Brigit Xavier and the Quest for the Enchanted Heirloom
by Mask of Secrets
Summary: Meet Brigit Xavier. She is spunky and a Demigod. One day Chiron send her, Charlotte Riley, and Skylar Lark on a rescue mission to find another Demigod after saying Grover Underwood disappeared. Little does Brigit know that it would change her life forever. As the Giants begin to rise Brigit, Charlotte, and Maria Goode are plunged into a perilous quest to find an Enchanted Heirloom.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Brigit

Rescue Mission

I took in a deep breath and let it out down the arrow shaft. Was I nervous? Well, that's a loaded question. Let's start from the beginning shall we? My name is Brigit Xavier, well no, Brigit Jade Xavier. I'm fifteen and I am probably the only fifteen-year old to ever be able to shoot a moving target with my eyes closed. Well not the only one. I have to admit my fellow campers are pretty good. You're probably terribly confused by now aren't you? Well, when I was eight, I was chased into Camp Half-Blood by a monster, a Hell Hound. Yes folks, you heard me right. A Hell Hound. I had run, tripped fallen, broken my left ankle and tumbled into Camp Half-Blood. What is Camp Half-Blood you might inquire? It is a place for Demigods to train. Demigods are a mash between a human and a God. So now you're thinking I'm off my nut but really, Gods are real! Stop looking at me that way, you people are sooooooo narrow minded! Anyway, Cap Half-Blood is a place where all these Demigods can train without dying from monster attacks. Yes, monsters are real too. Haven't you been listening correctly? Well, Camp Half-Blood was my home now. Actually I had a real home. My mom, Kelli Xavier thought I was at a fancy prep school because I had been kicked out of all the others schools. Jeez. Well, that was way far from the truth. The Gods had decided that it would be best if Mom didn't know about the camp. My dad was the God of the Sun, Apollo. This meant I had insane archery skills. Today, I was leading a class of new campers in Archery. Chiron, our camp director next to Mr. D. had assigned this to me. I took in another deep breath and let it out down the shaft of the arrow. Of course I was bound to hit the target but it had to look like it was harder. I didn't know why. Chiron had just told me not the show off so I planned not to. We'll see how long that lasts. I heard one of the new campers say snidely "Hey, she can't do it!" I looked at him and said briskly, "Go get that target moving and I'll close my eyes!" so much for not showing off. He reluctantly did what I told and I squeezed my eyes shut. Then I let fly. The arrow went right through the bull's eye of the target. There was a murmur of excitement. I was sick of doing this so I turned back to my hands and clapped them together before crossing them across my chest, "Everyone who _wants_ to learn Archery please go to the Armory and get practice bows and blunt arrows. At least if you miss you won't kill anyone!" there was a scrabble of movement as the class got up and dashed toward the shed. I walked down the Archery Range and neatly plucked my arrow out of the target. I put it back in my quiver and went to back to wait for the people. Maybe I should have told them not impale themselves on javelins and swords but it was slightly too late now. Oh well, I hope their insurance covers being speared by ancient Greek weapons!

"I thought I told you not to show off to the new campers, it only discourages them" said Chiron, in horse form click-clomping up to me as he made his round to check on everybody. I gave him my famous Me?-Why-Would- I-Do-That? Look and went back to weighing my bow trying to find its center point. "Brigit this is not a game" Chiron said crossly at my attitude. "They got on my nerves so I decided that I would deal with them by showing them how a real Archer does it! And I don't see why we can't show off, it gives them a goal to work toward!" I snapped. Chiron looked taken aback by my sudden aggression. "What did you come out here anyway?" I demanded now officially in a very bad mood. Chiron pursed his lips and then said very tersely; "I have something to ask of you when you're done here" I glared at the old centaur as he walked back over to the Big House. What did he take me for a child? I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself that you very much. And I would think that Chiron would know better than to nose around in my business! He had nerve. Almost more than I did. Almost. "Ms. Xavier! We have our bows and arrows!" said a young girl. I looked at her and my anger must of showed in my eyes because she cringed and made an odd, EEK sound. "Okay!" I said giving my first class a tired smile, "Let's begin!"

An hour later I slowly trudged up to the Big House waiting my lecture on being rude to the camp activities director. I pushed the door open and plopped down in a chair next to Conner Stoll, son of Hermes. I gave a light punch to his shoulder in greeting. He grunted at me and went back to his blue Coke. I raised one eyebrow at him and looked toward the head of the Ping-Pong table we were all sitting around. Chiron was sitting there. I glowered at him and looked down at my plate. After I was done thinking about pizza and it had appeared I looked up again. My best friend Skylar Lark was sitting up near Annabeth Chase frowning slightly. I cleared my throat and Chiron looked over at me. "You're late Brigit" He said icily. "Sorry" I spat, "I didn't-" But Conner clamped his hand over my mouth before I could finish. Chiron gave me another scathing look. I stuck my tongue out at him, a very immature gesture that I only did when I was really angry at someone and slumped back in my seat. "Ahem!" Chiron cleared his throat loudly, "It has come to my attention by Grover that there are some Demigods that need rescuing. We lost Hedge's scent, or so a nearby satyr informed us. Brigit Xavier, Skylar Lark, and Charlotte Riley are the ones I have selected to go to help those Demigods. I threw a peace sign at Charlotte across the table. She had dark brown braided hair and icy blue eyes. I decided I liked this girl. I stood up, wondering if Chiron was sending us on a death mission just because he was angry at me. Probably. I didn't trust many people was the thing. Annabeth gave a slight smile at us. She had been increasing worse after her boyfriend Percy Jackson had disappeared. "Why do you look like that? You're not the only one who was affected by Percy's disappearance!" said another one of my friends, Maria Goode. Maria had short spikey black hair and olive skin. Her eyes were chocolate brown and full of loathing as she glared at Annabeth. I put my hand on Maria's shoulder but Annabeth looked pretty miffed all of a sudden. "Yeah, like you cared!" she said. "I did! I knew Percy before you ever liked him!" Maria snapped. "No!" Annabeth said, "You were just there in the way all the time so I didn't want to intrude!" "Brigit! What do you make of all this?" Maria said. She was the daughter of the Victory goddess Nike. She hated loosing. She was sipping her energy drink as I started. "Wha-? Oh, well… Percy Jackson's disappearance affected all of us. I say that it affected Annabeth and you evenly and there is no need to fight" I tried to put power and authority into my words. I was the next in line for being Apollo cabin leader. Maria, satisfied that she didn't 'loose' per say smiled at me. I bit my lip and smiled back wondering if it looked forced. Annabeth sat back in her chair and crossed her arms angrily. "I _am_ his girlfriend!" she said pettily. "Ha-ha" I said, "I was Percy's friend too!" Annabeth glared at me. The most recent days Annabeth and I had grown apart and I had started to agree with Maria. Annabeth had been acting like Percy's disappearance was her burden alone. I was about to scream at her. I sighed instead and looked back down at the rest of my pizza. I really needed to get my thoughts straight. Annabeth stood up and walked out of the room. As she left Leo Valdez, one of my least favorite people walked in. I stood up. "Let's go before Valdez lights himself on fire" I said. There was a mutual feeling of agreement throughout my accomplices. I left, stalking out of the room, Charlotte and Skylar in tow. "We'll take the Pegasi!" Charlotte frowned. "We are going to fly" I said forcefully.

We began to walk toward the Pegasi stables. I watched the new camper I had set to doing chores as we walked. One was failing. Well, they were all failing. To my relief, because of the sweltering heat that seemed to have risen from nowhere while we were in the Big House, we finally came to the doors. I blinked a couple of times. I always did this to shoo away any flies that might be hanging out near the entrance. Well, because… moving on! We walked over to the Pegasi stalls and I opened one at random before stepping up onto a barrel and swinging my left leg over its back. It whinnied impatiently in the manner that said something like; "Okay, let's get this ride over with!" I did my best, I-Will-Still-Cook-You glare and coaxed him out of the stable. Charlotte and Skylar followed me out and I looked down at the horse. Even though I couldn't speak horse I said out loud, "Well, fly already!"

I didn't know how much time had elapsed since I had argued with Chiron. I looked down at the red rocks speeding below us. I looked to my right and saw Skylar's boy short hair sticking up in the wind. I grinned at her and she grinned back. I looked to my left where Charlotte was riding her face looking up in the wind. You see, Charlotte had a feud to settle with Jason Grace, son of Zeus. And I had a score to settle with his girlfriend Piper McClain. We'll leave it at that. Ever since Jason, Piper, and Leo Valdez had come to camp everyone had volunteered to train them. Then they had been thrown on a quest to save Hera! I can't believe they were selected. I don't trust Jason Grace. Not one bit. He seemed different than his sister Thalia Grace. I had always shrugged that off though. "MESA VERDE CALORADO!" Charlotte yelled to me and I sent my Pegasus into a dive toward the red rocky plateau below us.

As I touched down I slid off the winged animal and scanned my surroundings. Nothing but barren red rocks. I frowned. "Are you sure Chiron said Mesa Verde? Or even Colorado?" I asked Skylar as she slipped off her Pegasus. She frowned and scanned her surroundings. "Yep" she said. I moistened my lips. "This is not right… maybe another spot?" I said. Charlotte landed. "Nothing here" she said puzzled. I exchanged a glance with Skylar. Then it happened. The loudest sound I had ever heard exploded in my eardrums. I clamped my hands over my ears and sprinted toward the edge of the plateau. Another screech erupted form below me. What I saw wasn't exactly good. Below me was a lay out of red rocks upon a very thin cliff overhanging a green-brown valley below. A small trail wound its way almost all the way up to where I was sitting but seemed to be cover in rock fall the rest of the way. I looked around for the source of the screeching and found it almost immediately. A black creature. Now, I will spare you the details because it would give you nightmares for weeks afterward but I'll try to describe it without making you throw up. It was boney, with gnarled and wilted black skin that was rotting off the bones. It had wings but I doubted it could fly with them. Its eyes glowed bright red. When it saw or smelled me it looked up and hissed angrily. Apparently I was wrong about the wings because it almost barreled into me. "HELP OR SOMETHING" I yelled at Skylar and Charlotte as I grappled with the creature. It had sharp fangs that snapped at me. I did my best to defend myself without my bow but wasn't much good. I mostly defended against the jaws of the creature but before Charlotte and Skylar could process my command I felt a sharp searing pain in my arm. I dug my knees into the monster and rolled out of the way of a wild attempt to help bite my head off.

Suddenly I felt everything above me go ice cold. I looked to see the monster I had been fighting encased in ice. I stumbled to my feet and grinned at Charlotte who was covered in a thin layer of frost also. "Good work" I said. I grabbed my bow and aimed it at the monster. I was about to fire my arrow when the ice on it cracked loudly. Skylar brought her long bronze blade down on the monster's head but all that did was crack the ice away. I let my arrow fly and Charlotte sliced her bronze knife across the creature's back. The thing let out another blood curdling screech and fell into dust. I exchanged glances with Charlotte and Skylar. "What was that?" I asked. Skylar frowned down at the remains. "I don't know" she said. Charlotte kicked the dust with her foot and shrugged. "It's not our concern now, we need to find those Demigods!" she said. She and I walked forward to the edge of the cliff but Skylar didn't move. She was staring down at the yellow monster dust on the ground. Charlotte and I looked at each other. "Hello?" I asked waving my hand in front of Skylar's face. She pointed mutely down at the pile of yellow monster dust on the ground. Charlotte and I looked down at it. horror of what we were looking at suddenly penetrated my head. I stared down at the dust, my mouth agape. The monster was reforming. Out of the dust we had made out of the strange black monster.

"Spread it around!" I commanded my friends. We tried to set to work spreading the dust around but we couldn't in time. We had waited to long. The monster reformed. Nothing like this had ever happened before. I gave up and knocked an arrow. The monster zeroed in on me and hissed. How had it returned from tarturis so fast? My arrow thuded solidly into the monster's forehead. "Scatter it" I commanded a little roughly. We set to work again. Finally we were satisfied after a couple minutes of scarmbling around on the ground. As I worked I winced at the pain in my arm. I scrambled to my feet once I had finished my job and looked at my two campanions. "You okay?" Skylar finally asked me. I nodded feeling around for where the teeth of the monster had dug into my skin. I felt warm wet blood on my arm. "Pass me the nectar" I commanded. Charlotte sprinted the hundred or so feet to our Pegasi and pulled a small container of Ambrosia from one of the saddle bags before returning. I ate the ambrosia and whispered a hymn to Apollo. I walked over to the edge and realized how far I had slid back from it. As we walked Skylar began to talk. "I wonder what brought it back so fast" she said. I nodded puzzled by this too. "It might have something to do with what Annabeth was talking about. You know, the giants rising" Charlotte said. It had been a few days since Jason, Piper, and Leo had returned with a detailed description of their battle with the giants and how Khoine was trying to help Gaia. Jason had ended with a terrible sunburn (from me), and being frozen in ice (Done by Charlotte). Piper had ended in the lake. Leo had gotten scared and dashed off to do some work in the forges. They were now resting from their quest and Jason was in the sick bay. Who knew that too much sun exposure could be bad for you?

Charlotte had not been happy about that and insisted her mother wasn't a traitor. Skylar hadn't done anything but make the illusion that Piper's clothes were on fire. It really helps when you have a daughter of Hecate on your side! Well, anyway we had begun suspecting that Gaia was rising and now I was thinking she was bringing her monsters back from Tarturus. Which not only gave me a headache, it wasn't possible! I was almost as stunned as my partners looked. We approached the edge of the cliff. Down press against on a thin ledge was a very pale, very shocked looking teenager. She looked about fourteen, with long wavy black hair and coco skin. I jumped down on a series of several ledges and landed (with grace) next to the girl. She whimpered. It was kind of whimper that told you that the one doing the whimpering doesn't usually do that. I walked over to her and slung my bow, which I had just realized was still in my hand over my shoulder. I looked down at the girl. She four inches shorter than me which made me mad. How dare she be almost as tall as me? I shook my head to clear it of these thoughts. Maria was having an effect on me! Skylar was quick to follow me even though she wasn't particularly athletic. Charlotte was the last down; she went slower because she'd been at camp a shorter time then me and Skylar. Or maybe it was just because she was a little more careful. When she reached the ledge she joined us. For the first time the girl did something other than make sad squeaking sounds. "W-w-w-what w-w-w-w-was that?" she asked her voice quivering from fear. Hey, when you discover a demigod or a mortal who can see through the Mist, you have to expect them to be slightly freaked out. I chewed my cheek wondering how much to tell her before we took her back to camp. "What's your name?" I settled on asking. She shivered violently from fear and then answered. "Nilambari Apsara. People call me Nila" she said her voice growing stronger as she spoke. Skylar, Charlotte and I looked at each other. "So Nila, have you ever flown before?" Charlotte finally asked.

The air whizzed past my head as I flew east toward the east coast. Jeez. No wonder I was flying east. Behind me I heard Skylar muttering darkly in ancient Greek as Nila screamed in terror behind her. I wished she would feint in fear so we wouldn't have to listen to her. She was VERY freaked out. Had _I _been this freaked out when I had flown my first time. I thought hard. I didn't remember being that scared. Chiron had showed eight year old me to the stables and all I had said was "Pegasi? Are they magic?" well, that shows you how much I used to know. But I also remember distinctly loving flying, with the wind in my hair and on my face. So I really didn't get why Nila was so freaked out by it. I looked down at the cities zooming below and watched at Detroit came into view over the horizon. Maybe I'd over shot going north just a bit. "SHUT IT ALREADY!" Skylar screamed over the wind at Nila. Nila fell silent. Skylar sighed with relief and we kept flying in silent. My thoughts wandered over toward my hatred toward Piper, Leo, and Jason. First of all Piper bugged me. I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep since she'd arrived. Just because she pretended like she wasn't trying to be pretty, being pretty and boasting it still seemed to show through at times. She hadn't complemented my hair like she had to every Aphrodite and Demeter and Persephone kids. She hadn't ever said anything nice to me. Was it my eyes? Or maybe my skin? It was an odd mash of colors really. I was Italian and I had Chinese somewhere up in my bloodline I think. And of course I think a little Spanish. So I was mashed between tan, pale, and olive. I think it was my hair though that made her unhappy with me. Or maybe it was me not wanting to be her friend. Jason had annoyed me to death as I had been summoned to show him and Leo around while Annabeth and Piper wailed about their lost boyfriends. Jason had acted like a know it all and saying he thought he'd been somewhere like here before but couldn't say where. The jerk. Then, Leo. I had mixed feelings about him. I felt resentful toward him for being friends with Jason and yet part of me; that part that never ever came out thought he was cute. But I didn't… wouldn't ever like him. He was just another demigod. Wisconsin zoomed below us. Weird. We had taken the south route. I leaned over the neck of my Pegasus and whispered its ear. "Um… Camp Half-Blood is south slightly" I said, "Right?" The flying horse whinnied. Jerk. I seemed to be calling a lot of people that these days. Nila started up her screaming again. Really? I was getting tired of this. Hopefully I could hoist her off on Conner and Travis Stoll. Hopefully. Like I said, I don't trust people. I looked about to see what she was screaming about to see Skylar struggling to keep her control on the Pegasus. It was trying to dive but Skylar was yanking it upward. Fear coursed through me and I cursed in ancient Greek. Something was definitely wrong.

In two seconds I was falling. My Pegasus had bucked wildly and I was plummeting, the ground coming up sickeningly quick. I wasn't that fare above the tree like thankfully and hit a branch hard. I heard Charlotte yelling above me and Skylar cursing, not even bothering to use Greek. Nila was screaming from the trauma of it all and my eardrums were ringing. I hit the next branch then another and another. "OW! OUCH! OOF!" I said as I hit each branch. But my fall had slowed considerably. I hit the ground with a bone jarring thud_. _"Ow…" I groaned. Somewhere on the fall my ankle had gotten jarred pretty badly and was screaming in agony. Who thought rescuing a single demigod would be so hard? I realized the sounds were gone and my eyes were closed all of a sudden. I jumped up. And promptly fell over again. My ankle (By the way the ankle is question is the one that I shattered when I was eight) seared with pain. I cursed in ancient Greek several times and scanned my surroundings. First of all, I looked up. My wilderness teacher Ms. Scotch, yes her name was Ms. Scotch, had taught me cougars and other natural predators can climb in the trees. I listened to the birds next to hear if anything was in the vicinity. They went on chirping.

I seemed to be in a small clearing on the forest floor. Pine needles and leaved covered the worn hard packed dirt. A few weeds poked up here and there. My bow lay on the ground a few feet away near a tree covered in thick green moss and even thicker old gnarled bark. There was a small indent in the ground to my left covered in different types of flowers. I got up, fell over again hitting my shoulder hard on the ground in the process and heaved my way over to my bow only using my one good leg and my arms. It was slow going since I lacked a lot of upper body strength but I got there. In retrospect, I should have heaved myself over to one of the branched that would have worked as a staff instead. I did that next so I could move around. "Joy!" I muttered to myself, "I'm lost in the woods!" "Brigit? BRIGIT?" someone was calling my name. I was on the ground again and my eyes were closed. Had I passed out? I sat up and scanned the clearing once again. "HERE!" I answered them remembered that Cyclopes had the power to mimic voices. It was my lucky day when Charlotte, Skylar and Nila came stumbling through the bushes. "We've been looking for you!" Skylar said crossly just as Charlotte said, "Brigit! Are you okay?" I nodded bleakly. "I mean, we went through a lot of trouble for you!" Skylar continued. She had a warm look on her face though as she dug through her pack. I didn't know where she had gotten her pack though. I didn't want to know. She was almost as good at stealing as one of the Hermes kids. Nila looked at me. She seemed a lot more relaxed once she was off the flying Pegasus. "Did you inform Nila of her Godly Heritage and Camp Half-Blood?" I asked Charlotte who just pushed Skylar aside and was riffling through the backpack. "Yeah, we did. It's been three hours since Thira the Pegasus lost control. We need to Iris Message Chiron to tell him what happened to us" she said her hair falling in her face. "What did you do?" I asked Skylar. "Nothing, Thira just started going crazy as we passed over here!" Skylar replied sitting down in the dirt to watch me intently.

"So, what happened after I fell?" I asked. Charlotte grimaced. "I'm not sure. Jackie, my Pegasus wouldn't go near Thira while she was in frenzy. I dunno why. It just was. I managed to catch Nila and Skylar on Jackie after they were bucked off but then it was too much weight and we landed outside a tiny town just up the road. After that, we had to spend an hour tending and caring to Jackie. Thira just ran away into the sunset. All I can hope is that she's going back to camp. Then, we walked over to the little diner and got food to go so we could eat" she said. She finally found the Ambrosia and handed it to me. I took it and took a bite. "Anyway" Charlotte continued, "After that we went and Skylar… picked up… this backpack. We sent Jackie to a horse corral near by the town to graze while we went to find you. We searched around where you had fallen, calling your name. Then we found you here which we're pretty lucky. What happened to you?" I shrugged. "I fell and jarred my ankle; you know the one I shattered. Then I spent most of my time passed out" I explained, "Got any takeout left?" "All of it" Skylar said. She pulled free a couple boxes out of her backpack, followed by several cokes, lemonade, a Gatorade, and a bottle of water. Then, being the dear she was Skylar passed the food around the square we had made. I looked over at Nila and finished off my chicken finger. "So, Nila! What's your story?" I asked. Nila shrugged. Not much to say about me really. I grew up with my mom, Ria Apsara. She even looked like me. I've never met my dad but I want to someday. Now I'm starting to wonder if he's a Greek God" she said as she munched down on a meatless taco. She was a Vegetarian. "Huh" I said. "How are we all going to travel on one Pegasus?" Charlotte asked looking at all of us. "Let's Iris Message Camp and then they can send two people to get us" I suggested, "Pass the dip" we all laughed except Nila. No doubt she was feeling out of place.

After we had eaten it wasn't hard to find our way back to the town. And finding Jackie was easier still. We found a drinking fountain in the general store and turned it on. The bit of mist was just enough. Skylar dug around in her pocket and came up with a Golden Drachma. While she did I looked around the store. Several tall men were eying us interestedly. A woman and her, can you believe it, twelve children were shopping a little ways down in the produce section. I couldn't bear to think how much they would attract monsters if they were all Demigods. Skylar threw the coin into the bit of mist coming off the water fountain. "OH IRIS ACCEPT OUR OFFERING! CHIRON, CAMP HALF-BLOOD!" Skylar said a little too loud for comfort. Luckily the men had lost interest and the woman was too busy with her kids to notice. The mist shimmered as the Drachma disappeared through it then a shimmering image of Chiron appeared. "What's up?" I asked. Chiron bit his lower lip in frustration. "Did you succeed in your rescue mission?" he inquired. He didn't even bother with formalities! The nerve. But then again, I had said 'what's up' and sometimes that doesn't always go over well with beings thousands of years old. "Yes, we rescued Nilambari Apsara. She likes to be called Nila" I patted Nila's shoulder. She winced as if my touch would hurt. "I don't bite. Usually" I said to Nila. She backed away from me. "Well, we had some interesting happenings along the way…" Charlotte said. Bit my lip. "Yeah we did" Skylar confirmed. "Such as?" Chiron asked. He was so nosy. "Monsters that came back to life. Crazy pegasi. Ya' know" I said casually. Chiron suddenly became more interested. "Monsters coming back to life? I want you to return immediately!" "One problem sir. I don't think one Pegasus is going to carry the four of us!" I explained. "One? Really? How did that happen?" Chiron asked. I was getting thoroughly annoyed with Chiron at that point. He hadn't even paid attention to my report! "Thira went crazy and Solomon bucked Brigit off to fly away leaving us with Jackie" Charlotte explained a little nicer that I had hoped. "I'll send Leo Valdez and Rachel Dare to get you" Chiron said. I snorted trying to suppress laughter. "The Oracle Chiron?" I asked. Chiron gave me what he thought would be a quelling glare. I glared back. Finally he sighed. "Fine. I'll send Will Solace!" Chiron snapped. "Yay! My brother is coming!" I said. He was one of my favorite brothers you see. "And Alexis!" Chiron said. "Another sibling!" I reminded him. Charlotte waved her hand through the Iris Message and it was gone. "Well," I said, "That went well!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Maria

Capture the Flag

My stony gaze met Annabeth's. She crossed her arms and gave me a scathing look that would have wilted any normal Demigod. But not me. Normally I was the one giving people these looks. Who did the Annabeth chic think she was? I was a daughter of Nike! The victory Goddess. I _always_ win. Always. I did not back down easily. I would win this staring contest. I had to push down my competitive thoughts. Most of the time I enjoyed to win but lately my competitive side had been showing through a lot. We were standing in the sword arena with Clarisse glaring at both of us with her new (The third one) electric spear tapping on the ground impatiently. Lucas Goode, my dad had said (And I quote): _"Strength is essential to survival!"_ and that was true. I wouldn't get anywhere if I just let Annabeth win all the time. "All you ever do Ms. Chase," I put as much contempt (Which was a lot) as I could as I said 'Ms. Chase', "Is whine about having only X amount of months with Percy before he was whisked away by the grumpy Goddess Hera!" I snapped. "Hurry up with your arguing. I want to practice" Clarisse said. Annabeth lifted her chin. "I do not complain. Unlike you I spend every waking hour trying to find a way to rescue Percy" she said. "You haven't found him in eight months! Eight months! Maybe we're just looking in the wrong places! You're obsessive Annabeth!" I said. "And you're in my way!" Clarisse snapped. We both looked at the much taller and stronger girl. Clarisse glared at us both and grabbed Annabeth's ponytail yanking her out of the way. She strode forward into the middle of the arena (Where we had been standing), and raised her spear. "Who dare challenge me!" she yelled. Annabeth tapped her on the shoulder. "You do realize we're the only ones here right now?" asked the blonde. "Of course. I knew that" Clarisse snapped. I shot Annabeth an angry look and she stuck her tongue out at me. "Like I was saying. You're obsessive! You're never going to find Percy at the rate you're going!" I spat. "Like you'd know anything about the pace I'm going!" Annabeth nearly yelled. Unfortunately Piper McLean chose that exact moment to walk by (The oversized Barbie doll in denial!). This wasn't much of an improvement from Annabeth. Piper walked in. "Hello Annabeth" Piper said pointedly not looking at me. I glared at the back of her head. She had choppy chocolate brown hair that didn't even look that good. I mean, if you're going to have choppy hair you have to do it right! Hers looked to… uniform. I'd seen Brigit after the Battle for Olympus. She'd hacked off most of her ponytail to get away from a Dracaena that had been holding on to it. Now that was some good choppy hair. "What do you want Miss McLean? As you can see we're rather busy" I said coldly to her. Piper slowly turned and smiled her perfect Aphrodite smile. "I'm sure it can wait" she said in her overly sweet voice. Well, maybe it was just my mind registering her voice as overly sweet but still… I didn't like Piper. "Arguing is not the best practice. It gets in the way of better things" Piper continued. I felt her will beginning to chafe at my own. But like I said before, I always win. Piper McLean would not beat me. "You just don't want to listen to me beat Annabeth in an argument do you?" I asked. "WHO DARES CHALLENGE ME?" Clarisse yelled again. "Shut up Clarisse" Piper snapped. "You little Aphrodite Brat!" Clarisse said turning to face Piper. Piper just smiled and I could tell she was about to use her Charmspeak. I groaned. "Annabeth dear, would you like to continue our argument somewhere without this Barbie doll in denial?" I asked sweetly. "That's rude Maria" Clarisse scolded, "But I like it!" "I knew you would!" I said grinning at the Ares camper. Piper looked at us like we were aliens that had dropped from another planet and Annabeth frowned. I sighed and looked at Annabeth. "Well?" I asked. "What?" Annabeth said. "Should we leave so we can continue settling our differences somewhere else?" I inquired. "Oh. No. I need to get back to work finding out where Percy is! Please. Leave me alone" Annabeth said looking at the ground. Piper patted her on the back and glared at me. "You really need to be more supportive Maria. This isn't a game" she said. "Are you quoting Chiron?" I asked playfully. Piper led Annabeth away all the time giving me and Clarisse dirty looks. I shot her one of my own much more famous dirty looks and muttered something rather rude in Ancient Greek. Clarisse narrowed her eyes at me. "What should we do now?" she asked. "There's only one thing to do!" I answered. Clarisse laughed and deftly swung her spear. I grabbed my sword (Called Chopper if you're wondering) from its sheath and brought it up to meet Clarisse's first strike. "We duel" we said together.

Two hours later after an exhausting duel I sat down on the bench at the edge of the arena to watch some of the newer campers duel. I really hoped they didn't get themselves killed. But then again, I didn't really care about if they got killed. It wasn't my problem. It was theirs. Clarisse walked off immediately to go to the shower house and clean herself off before dinner and the Capture the Flag game that night. I waited for a minute watching the other campers unconsciously flipping my lip under teeth. It wasn't long before I saw two people I knew all too well enter the ring. Well, not knew per say. One I knew better than the other. Kyle Alexander Rome stood with his bow in one hand his quiver of arrows on his back. The other was Ollie Stoll. Her wicked sharp knife was tucked into her belt and the two were discussing something in low voices. I stood up and walked deliberately over to them frowning as I had to pause because of a new camper had gotten in my way. "Get out of my way" I snapped at him and kept walking without looking back. "Eep!" the new camper said. "Ms. Xavier was nicer than you" said his partner. I gave them both my quelling glare. I knew Brigit and yes, admittedly she was nicer than me. I finally reached where Kyle and Ollie were standing. They stopped talking as soon as I came within earshot and turned to look at me. "Hey" I said. "You're covered in dirt" Kyle said. "Very perceptive! And Kyle, its dust caked on by sweat from dueling with Clarisse!" I corrected. "Oh. Sorry" Kyle said. I patted his arm. "It's fine. Lots of people make that mistake!" I comforted him. Ollie raised one eyebrow. "What were you talking about?" I asked the other two. Kyle glanced at Ollie. He was saved from answering (To my disappointment) by the untimely arrival of Leo Valdez. He entered the arena and made a B-line to Ollie. "Hey Leo" Ollie said grinning. She gave him a small hug and I gave them both a dirty look. "Hey, I was just leaving to go pick up Brigit, Charlotte, Skylar, and some new demigod. You know. Chiron thinks I'm one of the few ones available when I need to be doing blueprints for the Argo II!" Leo said. "I can talk to Chiron about that!" Ollie said. "The Argo II? You mean that old battleship you're trying to make?" I asked. "Yes" Leo said tersely. Kyle looked at me. "You need to go shower and I need to go enforce the laws of not stealing in the Hermes Cabin" he said. Ollie looked at him. "What do you mean? It's in our blood!" she complained. "Sorry" Kyle muttered. "I agree with Kyle. Yesterday you or one of your brothers of sisters stole my prized iPod. You're going to pay for that!" I said. Ollie and Leo backed away. "Anyway, I need to go Ollie" Leo said. He turned and left followed by Ollie giving me and Kyle angry glares. Well, what can you expect? I can't have people going all soppy eyed around here. We wouldn't get anywhere! I walked out of the arena with Kyle. We parted ways at the start of the strawberry fields. I headed for the shower house as Kyle headed for the Hermes Cabin.

Thirty-Four minutes and eight seconds later I left the shower house all washed up for dinner. I hoped that Leo and whoever else went had gotten Brigit, Charlotte, Skylar, and the new girl Nilambari or whatever her name was had come back already and were waiting. I was happy to see Brigit's strawberry blond head ducking and weaving through the crowd of her other camp siblings. In two seconds Brigit was standing next to me. Her face was smudged with dirt and I now saw that her hair was full of little pine tree needles. Behind her stood Charlotte who had managed to get herself cleaned up, unlike Brigit. "Hey" Brigit said grinning at me, "Heard you have an argument with Annabeth" "Yeah" I said glumly. It was still playing back through on my mind. Annabeth wasn't getting any closer to finding our friend. All she was doing was complaining! I didn't get it! In my life I'd met many people who got on my nerves. But Annabeth was the worst person I'd ever met. _Ever._ "Why the sad face! It's Capture the Flag tonight! You can whoop some butts!" Brigit said grinning at me, "I hear we're on the same team" I laughed. "Yeah!" I said. Brigit looked over at the big table where Chiron was sitting and her expression turned sour. After a second of glaring she looked back at me and tilted her head just slightly. She sighed and looked back at the big table. "Oh please. What did you do Brigit?" I asked. "I…" before she could continue Chiron looked over at them talking and then shouted; "Everyone sit down. I'd like to introduce you to our newest camper Nilambari Apsara! She likes to be called Nila! Conner, Travis! Get over here. You can get her a weapon after dinner before Capture the Flag!" Brigit winked at me and gave Charlotte a high five before heading off to her fellow campers where she was joined by her siblings Valarie Demitri Caroll and Alexis Tyla Bane. Valarie who I vaguely remember saying to call her Val laughed as Brigit said something to her. I instead walked over to my much less full table. In fact, I was pretty much the only one there. Except for Kyline Clench who sat as far away from me as possible. After I had burned a portion of my food I sat down and sighed. I looked down at my bowl of pasta with the red sauce and my cup of Gatorade. I would need to be on top of my game tonight for Capture the Flag. I wouldn't lose. I just wouldn't. I looked over at Mia S. Ocean Brownell sitting alone at the Poseidon table. I didn't know how she felt all alone. I had my sibling. Everyone else had their siblings. I sighed and looked over at the Hecate table then at the Khione table. Charlotte and Skylar were talking with their brothers and sisters. I went back to my food. Soon it would be time to get ready for capture the flag.

The newer campers stood nervously about with bated breath of the older war veterans (Like me, Brigit, Skylar, Annabeth, all three Stoll's, Will Solace etc.) helped some of the campers that had been here for one or more summers (Such as Val, Alexis, Kyle, Piper, Jason, Leo, Charlotte etc.) put on their armor. Val was talking with Piper who was her best friend. I finished my job showing Val her new and upgraded armor just in time to see Leo (Trying unsuccessfully) to get Ollie to help him with his armor. Instead Chiron, who was overseeing this whole shebang motion to Brigit who was finishing helping Nila buckle on her sword belt. Leo walked over to Brigit and she gave him a sour look. Then she said something to Nila and the new camper quickly moved over to where Travis was talking with Katie Gardener. Leo and Brigit talked for a moment and then Brigit frowned. "Watch it Maria!" Charlotte yelled across to me as a new kid took a practice swing of his hatchet. I rolled out of the way of the blade. "Watch were you swing that axe kid!" I snapped at him and the poor guy melted into the throng of campers that were chattering about who would be with who. I scanned the crowd for Brigit again and saw her saying something to Leo who had been joined by Ollie. I walked over to them but Chiron saw me and beckoned for me to join him. "What?" I asked impatiently. "I want you to announce teams. Team one is: Apollo, Nike, Khione, Aphrodite, Ares, Hermes, Thanatos, Hephaestus. The rest are on the other team" Hecate hadn't been listed. That meant me and my team was up against illusionists and a daughter of the sea god. I walked to somewhere close to the middle of the swarm of people and shouted in my most quelling voice, "SHUT UP!" when everyone had quieted down, which took approximately three seconds, I clapped my hands together. "Okay peoples! Team One… Apollo, Nike, Khione, Aphrodite, Ares, Hermes, Thanatos, Hephaestus will be one team. The rest of you lot are on the other team!" I shouted. Brigit, who had just stopped arguing with Leo how the best way to but battle armor on walked over and joined me where I was standing. I saw Piper and Val walk over and I groaned. For one, I was up against the Athena campers who were the best strategists and I had to deal with a whole cabin of Barbie dolls. Joy. Alexis popped up right at that moment and grinned. "Ready to beat them solidly?" she asked. I nodded. I was _not _happy about dealing with Piper. The Barbie was standing there not doing anything. She didn't even have armor on. "I'm team captain!" I said before Clarisse who had just arrived could open her mouth. "We need to place our flag very quickly. I can do any climbing" Brigit volunteered. I nodded. "Let's get into the woods!" I commended my fleet. I guess you could call it a fleet. Right? Somebody say right! Ugh! We quickly moved for the woods. Leo fell into step next to me, Ollie on the other side of him. "I was thinking-" but Brigit (Who was on my other side) cut him off. "Just stay out of the veteran's way Lover boy" she snapped. I raised one eyebrow at her and she mouthed something like 'Later'.

We put our flag on top of Zeus's Fist. A giant rock formation that had masked the entrance to the Labyrinth. I remembered the battle. Brigit, Charlotte, Percy, Annabeth, and I had fought a legion or Dracaena. It had been terrible. All the campers had wanted to name Zeus's Fist, The Poop Pile but Chiron had said that would be disrespectful to the king of the gods so it had been stuck with the name Zeus's Fist. Brigit had scaled the rock and placed our flag at the very top tucked neatly under a large pebble but easily visible. Then she had climbed down. In the meantime I began assigning the battle strategy. "OKAY! LISTEN UP! LEO! PUT THOSE PIPECLEANERS AWAY! I AM ONLY GONNA SAY THIS ONCE!" everyone snapped to attention. "Quick! Every Hephaestus kid needs to be setting traps in the woods all along the perimeter! Ares cabin! Line up in the front dispersed throughout the trees so you're not seen. Attack any camper that is not on our team. Hermes campers and Kyline! I want you to be the inner defense. Tell the Hephaestus kids when they get back they work with you. Aphrodite people you Barbie- erm… campers do something useful. Kyle, you need to stay here and guard our flag. The rest of you, offense. No, Brigit, Charlotte. You're with me" I commanded my troop. Does troop sound better than fleet? I dunno. Brigit and Charlotte who had begun walking away turned and rejoined me. Ollie walked over to Leo who was doing traps at the edge of the small clearing. Brigit scooted closer. "Valdez and Stoll are in love!" she said teasingly. I looked. Nothing out of the ordinary. I wondered how Brigit could tell they were in love. I shrugged then spoke in a low voice so only Brigit and Charlotte could hear. "Listen. The three of us need to find the flag first" I said. Charlotte looked behind her were Val and Piper were talking. Why did no one do their jobs around here? "What do you mean?" Brigit said urgently. We all knew the horn would blow and the game would start soon. "I'm a daughter of Nike. I have to win. And…" I let my voice trail off before lowering it even more, "I need to beat the son of Zeus. Jason. I want to show him whose boss. He wants control. I can tell" I muttered. Charlotte and Brigit nodded. The horn blew. It echoed loud and clear through the woods. I looked up to see the birds that had been in the trees a moment before flapping their wings and rising into the sky. For a moment I wished I could fly. It would make winning much easier. I had to win this. Jason Grace was trying to take my role as Supreme Person Who Yells at People and Wins Everything! And I didn't want to lose that position! I reacted as soon as the long piercing note died into stillness. Brigit, Charlotte and I dashed west. At least, I thought it was west. My internal compass had been screwed for weeks now. We half sprinted half skipped to the edge of the clearing. I had a horrible flash back of a red eyed monster scorpion looming out of the forest with long sharp fangs and almost stopped making me stumble. I regained my footing immediately and kept running into the dark gloom. Nothing jumped out at us. Which was rather lucky because we were armed and dangerous. Very dangerous. We ran through the woods weaving around trees and jumping over logs. All of us, being very fit cleared them easily and didn't even have to pause. We neared the edge of our territory. Suddenly Brigit stuck her arm out in front of me and I slammed into it. Hard I might add. Very hard. "What?" I asked crossly. You would be cross to if you'd just been slammed in the stomach. Brigit pointed and put her finger to her lips. A sign to be quiet. I looked where she had pointed and Charlotte followed my gaze. Along the creek bank strode Jason, Mia, and… "Nico?" Charlotte asked. "I didn't know he was back at camp…" Brigit said. I shrugged. "Well, son of Hades, son of Zeus, and a daughter of Poseidon. Brigit, how many good shots could you get in before they got over here and engaged us in battle?" I said scanning the surroundings for the highest ground. Brigit bit her lower lip and flicked it several times under her teeth. "Probably one or two" she estimated, "The arrows won't have far to fly… but that means the attackers won't have far to run" I nodded and looked at Charlotte. "Could you freeze the creek to delay Mia's use of her powers?" I asked. "Maybe. Not the whole stream just here, that's a guarantee but Mia might still have power over it" Charlotte answered. Her knife was in her hand and she didn't look at me as she spoke. I judged where I could strike from best. I was moving towards there when Piper, her sister Lacy, Val and Alexis entered and dashed across the clearing. This gave me a second to think. They would get themselves killed. Most likely. I didn't care about Piper or Lacy but the Apollo campers were my biggest worry. "Go, now!" I commanded Charlotte and Brigit. Brigit moved so fast I couldn't see what she did, but in a moment an arrow was sprouting from Nico's leg. Brigit knocked another arrow and prepared to shoot. Charlotte scrambled out of the underbrush and put her hand in the water. Almost immediately the finest frost crystals began to form across the top of the creek. Brigit loosed another arrow into Mia's arm and the slung her bow over her shoulder while she ran out from the bushes and cleared the stream in a single leap. She touched Jason's forehead and from where her hand touched a sun burn extended across his face. "What are you doing?" Piper screamed from where she was standing on the other side of the freezing stream. "Winning" Brigit supplied and pulled her hand away from Jason's face. While this was happening I had leaped out from the thicket and jumped over the stream. Jason fell to the ground clutching his face a yelling. Charlotte skidded across the newly frozen creek and scrambled to her feet to stand next to me. "Let's run" she said grabbing my wrist and pulling me along into the woods. Piper was still screaming at Brigit who had long since followed me into other side of the wood. We didn't bother with sneaking now. Mia was screaming bloody murder behind us. Some words were just slurred but I heard, "DAUGHTERS!", "NIKE! KHIONE! APOLLO!", "ON!", "SIDE!", "FLAG!" I laughed as I ran and kept moving. A face loomed out of the shadows. Ben Weatherpeak from the Hecate cabin. I swung Chopper and he melted back into the shadowy underbrush. I bent my head low to sprint under a fallen log covered in green Spanish moss. Brigit yelled something in Ancient Greek and I turned. I saw that a hand had slithered out and clutched Brigit's ankle over her leather boot. She swung her other foot to kick to person's face but then she faltered. I looked at her grudgingly. "Kick _it_ before we get engaged in combat!" I snapped. Brigit kicked and her foot made contact with… something. The person yelled and released Brigit. A feminine yell of pain that included several very nasty words. "BRIGIT JADE XAVIER! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" the girl who had just grabbed Brigit hollered. "S-Skylar? Brigit asked.

Then we were all tumbling. I unconsciously started screaming and so did Charlotte but Brigit didn't. I looked at her. "What is wrong with you?" I screamed. "It's an illusion! I've never seen one at this scale before so Skylar must've had friends in the close vicinity of where I kicked her…" Brigit's voice trailed off. "So how do we stop it?" Charlotte asked. "I dunno. I'm no daughter of Hecate. Play to the Gods to stop it?" Brigit said shrugging the best she could while falling down an illusionary pit. "Joy!" I muttered but nobody heard me. Then, as soon as it had started, the falling stopped. And I was (Very un-dignifiedly I might add!) getting held off the ground while I was kicking around by Clarisse. With Clarisse's other hand she held Charlotte who quickly stopped kicking. Leo and Ollie were doing their best to drag Brigit off her feet but not doing in her successfully. "VALDEZ! STOLL! PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN!" she'd locked her feet through a sticking up root so they couldn't pull her free very easily. Leo set her down and Ollie dropped her like a hot potato. Brigit staggered into Leo then into a tree. When she had regained her balance she pushed away from the tree and walked over to face Leo. She crossed her arms and I thought she was going to thank him. Then, she uncrossed her arms and punched him in the face. "I'd punch you too Stoll but I don't want my bow or quiver to go missing!" Brigit snapped. "What?" Leo asked while he clutched his nose. "Oh get over it Valdez" Brigit snapped. I looked at Clarisse. "What happened?" I asked. "We saw Skylar do something and you all fell forward. Then Skylar bolted. We came over and pick you up" Clarisse answered. "Skylar's usual behavior! Poor Hermes kid…" Brigit proclaimed with mock sadness as she shook her head. "What do you mean?" Ollie asked. "Have you seen Samuel Dialer in more than three months" Brigit asked. "Um… no… now that you say it!" Ollie said. "HEY! Leo, Ollie, Clarisse! Why aren't you at you're posts?" I demanded. "Times up!" Leo and grabbed Ollie's hand they bolted out of there like two bullets. "Clarisse. Stay on offense" I muttered and Charlotte, Brigit and I ran into the wood.

"We need to locate the flag" Charlotte said looking up as the trees. "I know" I said scanned to the left of me. "If I were a flag… where would I be?" Brigit muttered to herself. "I du-! Eep!" Charlotte had grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me to the ground. "What is it?" I asked. "Oh. Just Annabeth. And she's standing in front of the-""Flag!" I exclaimed. In fact, now that I looked closely I did see Annabeth standing there in front of the bright red flag that was shoved neatly in between two sticking out rotten stump bits and pushed back against the rotten inner bark. Annabeth deftly swung her dagger around, twisting it in her hands as she looked over the forest from the small clearing she was standing in. the surrounding scenery was rather boring. Other than the huge stump where the flag was wedged in there was sparse grass covering the forest floor. Bits of liken and more Spanish moss covered the surrounding trees. Annabeth herself was in her Greek battle armor, with mirrored shield in one hand and her small celestial bronze knife in the other. She patrolled around the stump watching the surrounding forest. "Eureka!" Brigit suddenly said. Charlotte and I both looked at our friend. "I just had an idea. You guys don't reek of anything except blood, sweat, and food" Brigit explained. "Food?" I asked. "The small lingers" Brigit said. She went to sniff her own arm but I swatted her hand down. "What's your plan genius?" I demanded. "Oh. Annabeth circles the stump right? Is we time it correctly we can jump out and surprise her then Maria; you grab the flag and run for it. I'll provide cover fire and Charlotte; you make sure the way is clear ahead of her" Brigit explained. Annabeth had paused and was looking around as if she had heard our voices. "Who's there?" she asked her voice quavering slightly. For a moment I almost felt… _sorry _for her. But that feeling passed quickly. "I SAID WHO'S THERE" Annabeth said trying to sound powerful but her voice breaking. "Here" Brigit said handing me her quiver and bow before taking a single arrow shaft from the quiver I was now hold. "You caught me" she said standing up. Annabeth whirled on her and readied her knife. Bright waved her hand dismissively and sauntered over to the flag in the stump. Annabeth watched her go all the way. "Don't you take the flag!?" Annabeth said but it sounded more like a question. A lot more like a question. "Your heart isn't in this Annabeth" Brigit said as she took the flag and walked over to where Annabeth was standing. She patted the daughter of Athena and the back and turned to walk out of the clearing. I stared as, just for a moment it looked like Brigit was going to walk right out of there. Then Annabeth swung her dagger. Brigit's muscles tightened as she did a diving roll and landed on her feet. "So sorry Annabeth" she said before digging the arrow she's been holding into the back of Annabeth's hand. Annabeth yelled but it was mixed with the sound of a sonic guitar. Brigit grinned at me and ran. My ears were still ringing. Charlotte had her hands clutched over her ears. I looked back to see Annabeth rolling around on the ground her fingers pressed in her own ears. "What was that?" I asked. My voice sounded distant and far away to even my ears. Brigit said something that I couldn't hear. "What?" I asked. "I should'a told you to over your ears. Sonic Arrow!" Brigit said. I could barely make out her words. "No everybody knows a daughter of Apollo is here" Charlotte said. She seemed too fared better than me as she seemed to be able to hear Brigit fine. "Yeah! That's why we run!" Brigit screamed.

"You didn't stick to the plan you had" I said as I bolted through the woods, ducking and turning as I went. "I had another one too!" Brigit said as she came within earshot. We were almost to the creek. Just a few more feet and we'd be safe from the oppression of the other team. We would win! I refused to lose! Not now! Charlotte stumbled beside me but I just grabbed her arm and pulled her back upright. We were all breathing heavily. Behind we heard shouts of "Get them!" and "They have our flag!" but we didn't look back. An arrow whizzed past my ear and would've cut my hair off if it had been longer. I didn't even stop to look back at the shooter. We were running toward the stream. But it wasn't frozen anymore. Mia was standing there waiting for us. Brigit half dived half rolled to one side as a water jet came at her. But then the betrayal happened. I spotted Piper. I thought she was running to help us. Just a tip: never trust Barbie dolls. Instead I saw she was holding our flag. Val was looking the other was a Piper slowed to a walk to cross the creek. "No you don't!" the three of us said together. I threw Chopper. Charlotte shot a bolt of frost from her fingertips. She considerably paled after doing this. Brigit raised her arms into the air and a huge ball of glowing white light exploded between them. It blinded everyone in the near vicinity including me. I felt someone shove a piece of cloth into my hand and say, "Across the stream!" then there was a push on my back and I staggered into cold water. I bumped into someone. My vision was starting to return. I figured that I had about ten seconds to win. "You sunburned my boyfriend! AGAIN!" Piper was yelling. I had reached the shallows on the other side. "Someone!" I yelled as I tripped and fell to the ground. The light had done been very bright. I felt someone snatch the flag from my hands and hoped it wasn't Piper. "Gods and Goddesses of Olympus Brigit!" I said. I looked to where I thought she was. Too many black spots were dancing across my eyes. I saw who I had given the flag to was Will Solace. He had looked away at the right time I guessed because he was looking at Brigit. In his hand he held the flag. We had won. WE HAD WON! Piper was unaware of this and was still wading across the creek whose water level had risen by quite a bit I now realized. "Piper! You traitor! It's over!" I yelled at her. Brigit crossed over with Charlotte. "Your eyes okay?" I asked. "Yeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaah" I said dragging my words out for a long time uncertainly. Brigit just laughed. "Sorry about not warning you" she said. Charlotte sat down and put her feet in the water. "We won…" she said in a sort of daze. I saw she was happy. "Yeah" I said, "We won"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Charlotte

The Claiming

After winning we exited the forest. I was disgusted at Piper's poor behavior. She had tried to make us loose just because her '_boyfriend'_ got sunburned. It was still light out as we exited but only just, the sunset casting a warm glow across the sound. I paused for a moment to watch and Nico, who was getting supported by Kyle (They were best friends) bumped into me. Brigit, Maria, and Skylar were talking. Skylar's nose was swollen up where Brigit had kicked her. "Sorry" I said to the two boys. "It's fine" Nico said. "I'm sorry that Brigit shot you in the leg and all" I stated. "It's fine" Nico said grinning, "I guess I needed it… dropping in unannounced! You had to face children of the big three. That was totally unfair to you" he continued. Kyle nodded. "How'd you do it anyway?" he asked. I smiled. "Brigit shot Nico and Mia and sun burned Jason while I froze the stream and Maria charged across" I explained. Kyle grinned and kept walking. I watched them go and frowned. Nico and Kyle were both nice people…I just… they were children of the two gods of death. They were sometimes _very_ creepy. I heard laughing. Piper and Val the Apollo kid. They both had their arms around Jason. I groaned. I almost walked over to them but decided that I didn't want to waste my time on them. They'd never change. I scanned the rest of the crowd. Ollie and Leo were walking along as pretty as you please talking in low voices. Alexis was walking with Annabeth and patting her on the back comfortingly. I wondered what had happened to make Annabeth crack like this. Maybe it had been that argument with Maria. I highly doubted it. She had been like glass the last few days. It was sad. Right at that moment she reminded me of Selena Beauregard after Charles Beckandorf had died. I watched them talk then wove my way closer to Brigit, Maria, and Skylar to hear what they were saying. I couldn't though because we left the forest at that moment. Chiron was standing there in front of all of us. "The campfire will be held. You can leave to your cabins also" I walked over to where Brigit, Maria and Skylar were completely. "Hey" I said. "Sup!" Maria said. "Hi!" Brigit said. "Why are you here" Skylar demanded. She seemed to be cranky that I had witnessed Brigit kick her. "You guys going to the campfire?" I asked. "What's the point? Ms. McLean has her posse and just went there. She can sing I'm going to bed" Brigit said coldly. I felt slightly disappointed. The Apollo campers would get up every night and sing classic rock songs or something. This was not going to be an enjoyable night I decided. "So, what do you want to do?" I asked. "I'm going to bed" Skylar said and marched off without another glance. "What's with her?" I asked. "She's angry about the nose thing" Brigit said shrugging. "HEY! Xavier!" Leo was shouting at us. Brigit gave him a scathing look which was somewhat trumped by Maria giving an even more (If that were possible) scathing look at him and Ollie. "What?" Brigit snapped. "Are you gonna sing tonight or will it be just beauty queen?" Leo asked. "Get lost Valdez" Brigit said and turned on her heel. Without looking back she began to purposely toward the beach. Leo walked over arm in arm with Ollie. "Why's she always so ticked off at me?" he asked. "Because you... I honestly don't know" I said. Leo shrugged and grinned his malicious grin. "Ah well. I'll just have to listen Pipes sing tonight" walking away Brigit faltered just for a moment but kept up her steady tread until she went down the little slope onto the beach and we couldn't see her anymore. I looked at Leo. "I think it's that she naturally despises you" Maria said. I looked at the daughter of Nike. Maria gave me a "Hey, it's a guess" look and walked toward the campfire. Leo and Ollie walked off arm in arm which left me with two choices. One: Follow Maria, Leo and Ollie to the campfire just to listen to Piper sing. Two: find Brigit and ask her why she's upset. Three: go to bed. Okay. Maybe there was three options but cut me some slack. I'm a Demigod. Our math skills aren't the best. You see, there are a lot more important things to worry about in life. LIKE GETTING EATEN OR KILLED BY A MONSTER! I sighed and decided I'd find Brigit later. No matter how much I disliked Piper I figured I should probably drag Maria along to find Brigit. And to put it in Maria's words "_Sometimes, when dealing with oversized Barbie dolls, you need an ally!_'.

That was definitely the case when I came to the campfire. It was packed with all the new campers that had been trickling in for several months now after Percy made his wish to have the Gods claim and find Demigods. I scanned through everybody and it wasn't hard to find Maria. She was sitting next to a bunch of Ares kids who were singing loudly bloody songs of war ignoring the looks that Chiron was giving them. "_And then he took up his spear and ran the other through! You'll be dead if he finds YOU!"_" the campers sang. I walked over to Maria. She flashed a peace sign and said something to Sam Lavat. He continued to sing as I walked up to Maria. She sat up straighter as I approached. "I didn't do it" she said. Which of course meant she had done something wrong. But I didn't know what it was. "Did what?" I asked. Maria turned pink in the fire light. It had gotten considerably darker since we had exited the forest. Piper was standing with Val and Lacy as if they were about to sing. "Let's get out of here and find Brigit" I said. Maria was about to stand when it happened. Fiery red light filled the campfire area. I used one hand to shield my eyes and tried to find the source. It was the second time I had been nearly blinded that day. I had to squint as my eyes found the newest camper, Nilambari Apsara. She was standing there her hand over her eyes, her palm facing outwards. She, like me was squinting too as if looking for the source of the light. Except she wouldn't find it. Because she was the source. Above her head was a glowing hammer, like the one that was said Hephaestus used in his legendary forge. Chiron seemed to be the only one not bothered by the light at all. Maybe it was because he'd so many claiming's that he didn't get excited about them. Leo however was ecstatic. "Hey! You're a child of Hephaestus too! This is great!" he said almost jumping up and down in his seat. Seriously, he worries me sometimes. Nila looked puzzled as the light slowly faded and the hammer disappeared. We all seemed stunned for a minute then Chiron clapped once and we went back to our usual activities. I stood up and tugged on Maria's sleeve. She reluctantly stood up too and we walked toward the edge of the fire light. Piper started singing along with Val and Lacy. We left the small ring of warmth and walked into the cold darkness. We could hear the sounds of the ocean and I remembered Percy. He'd spent a lot of time there with Annabeth. I almost stopped to watch and listen. It felt so… tranquil. And peaceful. Like Percy had never disappeared. Like the Battle for Olympus had never happened. Like Gaia wasn't rising. But she was. And we had to do something about it. I led Maria down to the beach. I stopped for real this time and took of my shoes. I liked to walk barefoot on the beach. Maria took her sneakers off too and we set them up on the grassy bank above the ocean level if the tide came in. I saw Brigit's own shoes placed a little ways away. The daughter of Apollo was lying in the sand a little way down the beach, her blond hair spread across the sand. She was looking at the stars that were peeking out from the gloomy darkness. There weren't many stars above New York. But there were here. I could see the sign of Andromeda and Perseus. Then Cancer and Orion. We finally got within earshot of Brigit. "HI!" I yelled to her. She stuck her hand in the air and waved to us as we approached. I sat down next to her. "What is it?" I asked. Brigit looked at me strangely. "What is what?" she asked. "You were upset earlier" Maria said. "No, just angry with Leo and Ollie. They can get on my nerves sometimes. I don't like love birds" Brigit explained, "I'm a Demigod. I'm not particularly pretty. I'm not particularly talented. I'm just me. Plain old me. Someone who's worried about the giants rising" "Did Annabeth tell you about that?" I asked. "Yeah. I asked her" Brigit told us. She wiggled her toes in the sand and looked out to the ocean. "Don't you ever think about if Percy's even alive?" she said. Maria nodded. "I think Annabeth" she said the name with loathing, "Is just looking in the wrong place. I'm not sure. We could ask Kyle or Nico if he's dead. But I doubt it" we both looked at Maria. "What?" she asked, "My guess is he's almost un-killable. He survived the labyrinth! He fought Kronos" "Maybe" Brigit said, "I'm just… scared. I guess" I nodded. We sat there in the sand for a moment. The faintest music came from the campfire. A small smile twitched at the corner of Brigit's lip. Just for a moment. Then it was gone. The war had changed all of us. I wasn't the average teenage girl I had come to camp being. I was Charlotte Sawyer Riley. Daughter of Khione. Voices brought be back to reality. Some people were coming to the beach. Brigit shot to her feet like a rocket. She looked about her then her tense shoulders relaxed. "Not the Harpies. Luckily. Just Nico and Kyle with Nila" I snorted. She looked at me sharply. "I feel like they're following me" I said shrugging. We all got to our feet. "See you tomorrow" I said. "You too" Brigit said. "'Night!" Maria said as we walked to the cabins. I stood for a moment in the door but turned away after just a few seconds. I walked over to my bed and fell onto turning my face into the pillow.

It took me a few seconds to realize that I was dreaming. It was like my eyes were open and I could smell something. But the edges of the scene were blurry and confused. It looked like a twisting mass of shadows. I was in a crater that was huge. I couldn't see most of the scenery because I was surrounded with people. One thing was evident. Actually two things were evident. One was that these people had just been in a battle. A girl stood nearby with coco skin and caramel hair. She was covered in stone and monster dust. She was cheering with the rest of the crowd. Which brought me to my second conclusion. They were happy. That's when I saw something that made my heart stop. Someone had put a shield on their shoulders and sitting on it, looking as happy as he could be was Percy Jackson. The crowd began to shout "PERCY JACKSON! PERCY JACKSON!" but this shout soon changed to "PRAETOR! PRAETOR!" I saw Percy cheering with the rest, his hair sticking up. A girl with black hair and a purple cloak was heading the crowd. "PRAETOR!"

The dream ended and I sat up in bed whacking my head on something very hard. I heard a yell, then some very loud cursing, a very loud thump and more cursing. I opened my eyes but closed them again after a few seconds because they'd started watering. I'd hit my head hard. As the cursing continued I broke. "Shut it already!" I said rubbing my forehead. "Sorry" said someone I couldn't see, "You jolted me out of bed by screaming Praetor then hitting you're head on the bed. What's a Praetor?" I groaned. I honestly didn't know. I opened my eyes to see Audrey Billing, my sister with a notoriously dirty mouth. "I was screaming?" I asked. "Yep!" said Veronica Vivi another one of my siblings. "So what is a Praetor?" Audrey asked. "I have no idea" I said. "Something to do with evil Romans" Veronica said darkly. She turned away to her nightstand mirror. "Ronnie? What are you doing?" I asked. "Makeup!" Veronica said crossly. Arthur my third sibling was sitting on his bed. My last siblings Teddy (Short for Theodore) and Theo (Short for Theodosia) were nowhere in sight. I sighed. I barely ever saw them. Yesterday was almost a dream until I remembered the talk with Maria and Brigit last night. "WHY DO YOU NEED MAKEUP?" Audrey, Arthur and I demanded all at once. "One must look pretty if one wants to make an impression!" Veronica said as she checked her painted nails. I sighed and put my head back on my pillow. In a few minutes everyone had cleared out to go train. I got up and got dressed before sitting back down on my bed. I picked up my journal and the blue pencil. Opening to the next blank page I touched pencil to paper.

_Dear Diary,_

_Hey. I haven't written for a while. I've been busy you see. Yesterday we went out to rescue a Demigod who didn't know she was a Demigod. It was very interesting because a monster came back to life. Jeez. It was kind of traumatizing too. Seriously Skylar and Brigit both freaked out it seemed like. Brigit cooled off pretty quick but Skylar is not known for calming down fast. We thought our adventures were over for the day when we met the new camper Nilambari Apsara. She likes to be called Nila. We were wrong. After beginning our long flight back to Long Island sound we ran into a few minor problems. Thira, one of the Pegasi we crazy then Solomon, Brigit's Pegasus bucked her clean off! Well, to cut a long story short we found Brigit, Iris Messaged Chiron and he got some rescue. Then we played Capture the Flag as soon as we got back. We won though Annabeth's heart wasn't in stopping Brigit, Maria and I from getting the flag. Don't know why. Then this morn when I woke up, I remembered a weird dream. I have to tell Annabeth. _

_Sincerely, Charlotte Sawyer Riley_

I put my book down on my rumpled up sheets and let my head slowly sink down into my cool fluffy pillow. I sighed. There was only one thing to do. I didn't want to do it. Well, more the truth was I didn't want to get up and move around but what had to be done, had to be done. I stood up slowly and got to my feet. U head throbbed for a moment where I had hit it and my world began to dim on the edges bit by bit. I shook my head about and blinked vigorously to clear my vision. I walked to the door then turned around and walked back to my bedside table. I checked my reflection to make sure I didn't look too sleepy. I found that I needed to brush my long chocolate brown hair. I took up my hairbrush and hummed to myself a tuneless hum. I really didn't even know why I was humming. I put the brush down and turned to the door. Before I started to walk out I remembered to put on my shoes. I didn't want to walk around camp barefoot. I walked to the door, opened it, and looked out across my limited view. The hustle and bustle was already underway. Campers ran back and forth with sharp swords and axes, others we carrying piles of different objects such as metal, maps, and shovels. Some campers stood idling in doorways watching the hubbub happen and not moving. Eos cabin had tons of happy jumpy people standing around doing pretty much nothing. I stepped down onto the dusty dirt area and turned toward the Athena Cabin. Only one thing to do. Tell Annabeth about my dream.

Annabeth was sitting alone in her cabin, books spread across any horizontal surface. I looked down at one that was lying open on the floor. The chapter title read:

_Disappearing Objects a Study _

I looked over at Annabeth who was reading a book. Her hair was a mess and strew across her pillow, her legs were in the air. "Hey Annabeth" I said. "Set it over there" she said. "I want to talk to you" What do you think of titans being behind Percy's disappearance?" Annabeth asked. "I had a dream last night" "I'll do it later" "ANNABETH CHASE!" I nearly yelled. "Oh, hello Charlotte" Annabeth said looking up. I groaned. "What?" Annabeth asked pleasantly. "Nothing" I muttered. "Why are you here?" Annabeth asked. "I had a dream" I said cautiously. "Yes? I need to get back to work" Annabeth said. "It involved Percy!" I said slowly. Then I told her my whole dream not leaving anything out. "Interesting" Annabeth said. "Very" I muttered. "What was that you said?" Annabeth asked. "Oh nothing" I said quickly. Annabeth sighed deeply. "I remember Jason saying something about the Bay Area when they got back from their quest but I still don't know…" Annabeth's voice trailed off. "If we can trust the son of Zeus?" I finished questioningly. "How we're going to get there and scout it out!" Annabeth snapped at me. "Oh" I said in a small voice. I'd never liked Jason Grace. He was too… high and mighty. "If what you say is true… then we'd need a lot of Pegasi to fly our whole camp there and oppose the people who are holding Percy captive…" Annabeth said as if thinking out loud. I sighed. "They wanted to raise him to something called a Praetor. I doubt they're holding Percy there against his will!" "Still" Annabeth said. "What about the Argo II?" I asked. "It won't be done for months with only the Hephaestus Cabin working on it" Annabeth said blandly. "You're the daughter of the goddess of craftsmanship!" I said snorting, "You can work on it!" "Oh… I should rally anyone handy with tools then!" Annabeth said cheering up a bit. Just a bit. "Any, I need to go" I said and turned around to leave. "Oh and Charlotte" Annabeth said calling me back. "Yes?" I asked. "Do you mind finding Piper for me? I need to talk to her, Leo and Jason about more on their quest" I groaned then gave a pleasant smile. "Oh, of course Annabeth" I said politely. I resigned myself for several long hours of looking for Piper. I had to find one of my least favorite people. Lovely.

To cut my searching short I looked at the Aphrodite cabin first. It was a large cabin to fit all of Aphrodite's children even though we didn't have many here at camp. My search here went in vain as all I found was Drew talking angrily with a small younger camper. I knocked on the doorframe as I entered so I wouldn't scare them. Even so, I saw both of them jump a little. Drew whipped her pretty little head around to face me then relaxed. She smiled. Not a good sign. Drew was a smooth talker. Maybe not as smooth as Piper but still, she had a way with words. I had to hold back the instinct to put my fingers in my ears and start screaming, "NOT LISTENING! NO! NO! NO!" but I didn't. I had a feeling not to. "What do you want?" Drew asked sweetly. I wanted to say, "What were you talking about that made you jump so much when I entered?" but I found myself blurting out very quickly, and not emphasizing enough of punctuation "Annabeth Chase sent me looking for Piper and I need to find her so Annabeth and her can talk about Piper's quest and all. Would you happen to know where she is by any chance?" Drew, if she hadn't been a prim daughter of the goddess of beauty would have spat on the ground. Or so it looked. Instead she spat poison like words at me. "I don't pay attention to Piper McLean. She's not that important to me at all! She took my rightful place as the head of this cabin!" "Yes, sure, whatever" I said. I turned and left. No answers in there. Next I would try Apollo cabin, where Val usually hung out. The Apollo cabin wasn't that far away across the small group of cabins. "Hello?" I asked as I entered the cabin. It was deserted except for Brigit who was lying on her stomach her feet in the air reading some Greek texts. Her bow lay abandoned on the floor next to her bed. She raised her hand in greeting as I entered but didn't look up for a moment. Instead her other hand ran along the lines of Ancient Greek for about a minute longer. I was going to clear my throat when she looked up and smiled. "Hey Charlotte" she said. "Hey" I said. Brigit set her text down an got up to look at me. "What do you need?" she asked. "I _need_ to do something other than the task I was set. Annabeth _wants_ me to find Piper for her" I explained. "Oh, Piper is with Jason in the infirmary. You know. After I gave him that sunburn" I nodded. "Thanks" I said and left to find her. Piper indeed was sitting in the infirmary next to Jason who was sitting up in bed with a very red face. "Why the red face?" I asked. "You were there" was all Jason said. "Seriously. Can't anyone around here take a joke?" I asked as I walked over. "Apparently not!" said Jadelynn Salinas, daughter of Hermes. She was sitting over my Travis who was sitting over by Conner who was sitting over by Ollie who was sitting over by Leo who was sitting over by Jason. Who was laying my Piper. If you were wondering. So it looked like a long line of people really. Jade looked at me. "So, what do you need?" she asked. "Oh, Piper and Jason need to talk to Annabeth and Leo needs to get to work on the Argo II" I said nonchalantly. Leo began to grumble and Ollie smacked him on the back of the head. "Going!" Leo said grumpily. Good. Now it was time for what _I _wanted to do. And it was definitely not this.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Ollie

A Prophecy is issued

Brigit Xavier isn't the most charming girl in the world, being a child of Apollo and not a child of Aphrodite. But still, she was pretty sort of. Her hair was always messed up with twigs and branches and I viewed her as someone who might like Leo. And I liked him! But the person I hated in camp most was Skylar Lark. Her platinum blond and green streaked head, her attitude, the way she talked. She'd spoken at the place the Hermes cabin had defended "Well, he's snuffed it and if we don't get outta here we're screwed" the battle for Olympus had been burned in my memory forever. Everything about Skylar annoyed me to _death._ Which was saying something because I was enemies with everyone that my brother's had pranked. Skylar and her long sword and magic tricks. The worst thing was Skylar was _very _charming and charismatic. She could attract any boy within miles. It was confusing and rude. I was walking out of the big house next to Jade (Jadelynn, she likes to be called Jade if you're wondering). Jade's jet black hair was held back by a clip (At the demanded of Chiron. Maybe he was just tired of looking at her with hair in her eyes) but other than that her hair was as choppy as usual. Sometimes I wondered if her hair was purposely unruly. Jade looked out of the corner of her eye at me. "What?" I asked as I remained looking forward. She shrugged. For my sister, she wasn't as much of child as Hermes as I was. Maybe because I had been her longer. As if automatically my hand flew to my throat where the Camp Half-Blood necklace was. I felt the beads under my fingers and almost sighed. It seemed comforting to feel the clay beads proving I was toughened by battled. Jade looked at me. I didn't see any jealously that I had been her longer but I sensed her discomfort at remembering that. Jade turned away and headed for the forest were her pet wolf Aya resided. Aya had been a little hard to train because she had attacked a few campers at first but Jade had figured out how to train her. I watched Leo sprinting down toward the woods. He ran into Brigit who was steadily walking to the Big House with a pile of books. He gave several eccentric hand movements and kept running. Brigit gathered up her books and kept walking. I could almost hear her voice in my mind muttering about incompetence of people these days. Honestly! She was so rude to Leo. I made a mental note to ask why her later. I had no apparent destination, just walking. I adjusted my course to the archery range where some campers were shooting. I saw Kyle shooting as Nico sat on the ground watching. His Stygian Iron blade was lying on the ground next to him. I kept worrying that Kyle would step on it. I walked over my thoughts going at a slow sluggish pace. It was nice to relax. Everyday leading up to the Battle for Olympus I had been worrying. We had all waited too. Just waited. It had been an eternity as we all sat thinking that the whole fate of the world was riding on Percy's shoulders. But we had fought in the battle, as our friends had died. I arrived at the Archery Range and walked over to join Nico and Kyle. Kyle had shot most of his arrows and was waiting for everyone else to finish shooting before walking out to get them. Nico was chattering animated. So, you're probably thinking, 'Why was Nico chattering animatedly? He a son of Hades' well, he's very comfortable around Kyle and… well; I think Percy had an effect on him. He's a lot friendlier and less… reclusive at times. "Yeah. And I got shot in the leg by an Apollo camper and then I fell over and three girls sprinted past, and Jason got sunburned…" Nico was re-accounting the Capture the Flag game on his team while Kyle absently twirled his bow about waiting for the others to finish shooting. I stopped a little way away and skirted the edge not wanting to get peppered by arrows. I really didn't know why I was going here, it just felt like I needed to relax or something. But then I saw trouble coming my way. Skylar and her posse of Hecate girls and boys. She was walking backwards to show them illusions of icicles and licking flames. It wouldn't do any damage I knew but it still freaked me out. I found myself hoping that Skylar would trip and fall. She came close enough for me to hear what she was saying but nothing of it made sense to me. Something on how to do Illusions. Skylar turned around and smiles at me. Smiled mind you. It was soooo annoying that she could be so nonchalant about everything. "Hello Skylar" I said in a clipped tone. I hoped she would get the hint to leave. She didn't. "Hey" Skylar said sounding a lot more relaxed than me. A streak of green hair fell in her face and she brushed it away with the back of her hand. "What do you want?" I asked moodily. "Oh, just watchin'! This sport has fascinated me ever since I met Brigit and she explained it to me" Skylar said shrugging, "Whaddya doing?" I shrugged. "Just watching" I said forcefully making my voice sound happy. I could never get how Brigit could stand this brat. "So…" Skylar said. Sometimes, she seemed like the queen of awkwardness. "So what?" I snapped. I didn't mean to snap. Well, maybe only a little. I saw that Skylar's nose looked like it was still healing from the night before because it was slightly swollen. This reminded me of how angry I was with Brigit for punching Leo. Skylar and her posse gave out a short laugh. They were laughing at me! I glared at Skylar. "Why are you laughing?" I asked coldly. Skylar just shook her head making her green streak of hair fall in her eyes again. The archers had finished shooting at were collecting their arrows now. Kyle had already gotten his and was once again waiting. I really hoped he didn't get impatient and start shooting the campers. Skylar looked at her sisters and brothers then put her hand to rest on the hilt of her sword. She could draw in any time, I observed. I narrowed my eyes to look at her as I pretended to squint against the sun. It wasn't hard since the sun was very bright today. "Well," Skylar said in a happy tone, "I think I need to go to the arena to practice. Maybe I can even challenge Mia!" I watched her back as she and her sisters and brothers walked away toward the arena. I had been put in one of my moods. The mood that Conner and Travis called 'My Skylar Annoyance Mood'. It looked like my said was not going to be as good as I had hoped when I first woke up. "And now you are angry" said a voice from behind me. I saw Nico and Kyle standing there. Kyle had apparently gotten bored of shooting and was once again waiting for everyone else to finish so he could collect his arrows. It had been Nico who had spoken. "What makes you think I'm angry?" I asked in a falsely sweet voice. "Oh… nothing…" Nico said his voice trailing away as he watched Kyle tap his foot impatiently. "Patients is a virtue" Nico continued. "Yeah, a virtue that I don't have!" Kyle said crossly. I cracked up at this but put on my best straight face as Kyle pointedly glared at me. "Yes, yes" I agreed with him quickly to amend my mistake. He glared at me some more. I shrugged and looked at Nico. "And what if I am angry? Skylar annoys me!" I said. Kyle continued to glare. "Cut it out already!" I said. I couldn't pull off a glare as good as Maria but I counted myself up in fifth or sixth place. Kyle raised his chin a little and turned to fetch his arrows (The people having stopped shooting). Nico grinned at me. "I think you've offended him" he said. "Ya think?' I said sarcastically. Suddenly I remembered something I had wanted to ask him. "Hey, Nico. When did you get here?" I asked. "Last night before Capture the Flag. I used Percy's erm… pet Hell Hound. Mrs. O'Leary can shadow travel" Nico explained. "Chiron didn't even announce it though!" I said, "All of a sudden you just showed up!" Nico shrugged. "I'm a son of Hades. I don't like being looked at. I think Chiron knows that" he said. "Still, your team had all the children of the big three! Mia, Jason, and you. So unfair!" it didn't really cross my mind for a second I was complaining. Kyle returned with his quiver full again. "So, what's next on the list Nico?" he asked. Nico pretended to take an imaginary list from the air. "Go to the Hephaestus Forges to check out who the new girl is and see if she has a weapon" Nico said. "She does" I said quietly. "Still. We need to go" Kyle said. Nico, in one sweeping movement snatched his sword from the ground and slid it through his belt. It nearly chopped my head clean of my shoulders. "Watch it!" I complained. Nico shrugged. "I'll make sure you don't make Eternal Torment if I accidently kill you" he said. Nico did a lot of shrugging. I decided I'd take some food to Bunker Nine. Where Leo was working on blueprints and all. It just gave me a good excuse to see the place because I never had. Now I just had to figure out what Leo would eat…

I didn't find Leo in Bunker Nine though it was a sight to behold. I stared for a long time at everything in the room. I had decided on a coke and cold pizza for Leo who was probably somewhere other than Bunker Nine. I turned to leave when a blueprint caught my eye. I set the food down on one of the tables covered by blueprints, tools, and other half built things and walked over to where the blueprint sat. It was of a giant ship with a dragon figure head. Three masts. Plating on the bow, port, and starboard sides. Everything looked like a war ship. There was even a blueprint of a ballista next to it. I had an eerie suspicion that the ballista was to go on the ship. I spent several minutes looking through everything to it. "Yum! Pizza!" someone said behind me. I whirled to find Leo standing in the doorway of Bunker Nine staring hungrily at the pizza. "Annabeth's been driving me hard. You can't rush an inventor" he said as he entered. I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or just to himself. I quickly tried to stuff all the blueprints I had been looking at behind my back. Then said "The Argo II is a warship Leo?" Leo jumped just as bad as I had when he'd entered. "Um… Ollie! What are you doing here?" he asked. "Bringing you Coke and pizza" it wasn't really a lie. Just a partial truth. I had just needed an excuse to come here. But I had found something out. "A warship? Oh, um… yeah. When I was… never mind. Yeah. It's a warship" Leo said. He wasn't telling me the whole of it I could see that. Or maybe it was hear it… "Does the whole camp know about this?" I asked. "Not yet" Leo muttered. He walked over and joined me looking at the blueprints. "We're going to start building in a few days or so" he continued. Just as he was about to continue his explanation Jade ran breathlessly into the doorway. Her choppy hair was a mess and beside her was her wolf Aya. She looked at Leo and me standing staring at each other. She gasped some air into her lungs then said. "Chiron is calling you!" she said. We exchanged glances. Only one thing that could mean. A quest.

Only, Chiron didn't call us for a quest. She'd called _Brigit._ Don't get me wrong, I was happy not to be going on a death mission. But it ticked me off that Chiron had chosen Brigit instead of me. Maria, Val, Mia, Kyle, Alexis, Charlotte, Nila (Strangely), and Jade had been called. Brigit was nowhere to be seen but around the curtain in the cave in the hills. I couldn't hear the word being said though. I looked at Leo who had accompanied me. He looked like he was disturbed by this. "Chiron?" I asked. The centaur was standing nearby his horse half flicking about nervously. "What?" he asked. "Why did you pick Brigit to lead?" I asked. "Oh. She presented herself in the Big House at the right time. And… erm… Rachel told me" he explained. It seemed hours before Brigit came slowly. I saw her brush something from her eye. Leo watched Brigit intently. She gave him a sour look. "Stop staring Valdez" she snapped. "What's the prophecy?" Chiron asked. Brigit closed her eyes as if thinking then her eyes flicked open and she began to speak, maybe not a prophetically:

"Night strikes dark,

Pure and black,

Only the song of the lark,

Can free the light,

In late July,

As the flowers bloom,

One shall die,

And not be entitled to everlasting doom,

And the search shall end,

For the Enchanted Heirloom"

"The Enchanted Heirloom? What's that?" Charlotte asked. There was a general shrug as everyone had no idea. Except for Chiron. He had been stroking his chin the whole time and now looked up to face us. I watched him carefully for a sign of anything. Chiron sighed and began to talk. "Long ago there was a ring. A ring called the Ring of Gyges. The ring was and still is a mythical magical artifact that granted its owner the power to become invisible at will. Long ago I thought the Ring had been burned in a fire. When the man whole held it at that time died he wanted to pass it down to his son but he never got the chance. I thought the Ring had melted but I should've known. It's probably part of the power of which the Ring was made. We sought out a sword. Any sword might do but I thought immediately of the Sword of Peleus, a magic sword that makes its wielder victorious in the battle or the hunt. We found the Sword but the Ring, once again slipped through our fingers. The reason I think of the Ring of Gyges is because my brothers, currently known as the Party Ponies called it by the name of the Enchanted Heirloom. And if Gaia and her minions could become invisible… who knows what could happen then" Chiron said. Maria thought for a moment. "Hmm… I'd sure like to have that sword" she said after a minute of thinking. We all looked at her. "What?" Maria asked. Brigit looked at Chiron. "So, we need to find the Ring of Gyges?" she asked. "Yes" Chiron said. "What does it look like?" asked Brigit. "I don't remember" Chiron muttered. "Then… where is it?" Mia asked. "I don't know that either" Chiron said, "Look my students, I realize that's not much to go on but-!" "That's nothing to go on!" Jade interrupted. Nila had been quiet during this whole thing just listening and watching. "I wonder…" Leo looked at his sister sharply. I had been just watching all this going on too. "What is it Nila?" he asked. "Well, I was just thinking… who do you think made the Ring. Maybe…" "We children of the God who made it could make a tracker!" Leo finished. "Exactly!" Nila said. "So we can make a tracker" Leo continued. "STOP!" Kyle yelled. He usually wasn't particularly bad tempered but he seemed pretty angry. "What?" Nila asked. "Can you talk the 'finish sentence talk' at the Forges?" he asked. Nila muttered something I couldn't catch and turned to Leo. "Let us go build something" she said. Leo nodded and they walked toward the Forges. Kyle glowered at their retreating backs. "Dude. What's your problem?" Jade asked. Kyle gave her an angry look. Chiron sighed. "Anyway. You need to find the Ring of Gyges. Of these Demigods here, whom do you wish to take?" Chiron asked. "Maria and Charlotte" Brigit said before anyone could open their mouths. Charlotte looked stunned. Maria looked like she normally did. Which gave away nothing. I almost yelled with frustration. I was never chosen for a quest. Never! Brigit looked at me a sad smile playing at the corners of her lips. I saw true regret in her eyes. She walked passed me and as she did she whispered. "I would've chosen you. But I need them both. I just… can feel it" I laughed coldly as I watched Brigit's back as she left. A saw Brigit's steps falter for a minute. Then she kept walking, not looking back.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Kyle

A Visit to Lord Hades

After the quest was issued I was feeling down. I couldn't find Nico but I wasn't trying too hard. It had annoyed me that I couldn't contribute to the quest at all in any way. Brigit was my er… friend. Well, I guess you could say we're friends. Brigit wasn't really the… nicest girl in the world to me. Or any guy really. She spent a lot of time with her best friend Skylar. Or Charlotte. Or Maria. No I was a guy. So that meant I was off Brigit's list of whom she would take on her quest. She had chosen Charlotte and Maria. Predictably. I still was looking for Nico (Still not trying that hard) when I ran into the new camper Nila. I had gotten annoyed with her earlier and it crossed my preoccupied mind I should say sorry. Nila dropped the armload of papers she was carrying on the dusty ground. "Hey, um… yeah… Nila?" I asked awkwardly. "I am she" Nila said. She bent down and started gathering up the different papers. "Sorry that I sna-?!" I didn't get to finish. Nila scrambled away after a piece of paper that was getting carried toward the forest by a slight wind that was starting to pick up. I sprinted after Nila was about to catch all her papers. But an especially strong gust blew all the papers out of Nila's hands and into the woods. Nila laughed and ran after the papers. If I was going to apologize I had to follow her. I watched her dark hair as it shone in the sunlight. As followed her deeper and deeper into the woods. I could still see the camp through the trees. At least the cabins. Nila was still ahead of me. "Wait up" I finally called getting bored of all this tramping through the underbrush. Nila stopped and turned back to look at me. "Why? Leo needs these papers for creating the tracker for the Ring of Gyges and I need to help him!" Nila said. She had most of her papers in her arms now. The wind had subsided for a bit. "I wanted to say sorry about snapping at you earlier!" I said as I gasped for air. "Oh. It's fine. People lose their temper all the time!" Nila said cheerily. She seemed elated about _something. _I had no idea what. "Still…" I began to say. Then I realized it was hopeless in a way. Nila had turned back to gathering all her papers on the ground. I walked over to a stray one and picked it up. It showed a ring. Just a plain band of metal with a round stone inlayed in it. "Is this the Ring of Gyges? How do you know what it looks like?" I asked. Suddenly this trip had become a lot more worth the trouble. "We don't. It's a guess. Chiron says it's something very simple and not particularly intricate. I think this is what Leo thinks of when someone says not particularly intricate" Nila explained, "The Ring itself is made out of some type of metal that isn't celestial bronze. At least according to Chiron's memory and who knows how trustworthy that is" Nila gave a wry chuckle and picked up the last few papers. "The stone in it is assumed to be garnet or malachite. Chiron couldn't remember. Look at the side notes. It tells you more that I could" Nila continued. She pointed to notes on the edge of the paper. "Whoa…" I said as he looked at the side notes. It explained the size and the looks and more. This, I knew, was all from Chiron's memory because; according to him the Ring had been lost millennia ago. I wished I could see the Ring in color but the picture was black and white. I finally looked up when I had finished reading. "Did you draw this?" I asked. Nila shook her head. "Chiron" she said. I handed Nila back the piece of paper and she turned to leave. Then I remember what I had been doing before I ran into her. "Hey, Nila?" I asked. "Yeah, what is it?" she asked distractedly. "Have you seen Nico around?" I asked. She visibly blushed at the name of the son of Hades. "Yeah. He just got back from a short trip to the underworld. He said he was looking for you. Something about Hades wanting to see the children of the gods of death. I think something's wrong with Death itself" Nila said. I gave a short laugh. "Trust dad to get into trouble" I said before turning and walking out of the forest. I needed to find Nico and figure out why he'd been in the underworld without me.

Once I really started looking for Nico, he was super easy to find. In fact, he found me. I was walking to the Big House to see if he was there talking to Chiron. I had been on the porch standing there about to enter when Nico came storming out. Chiron came out after him yelling something. When they both saw me Nico brightened up and Chiron clip-clopped back into the Big House. "What was that about?" I asked. "Oh…" Nico said. I wondered if he was trying to avoid answering. "Nothing" the son of Hades muttered. "I'm your best friend" I pushed. Nico sighed. "Fine. I asked Chiron if he knew anything about the toils going on in the underworld and Taturus! You know about the monsters rising back up again very quickly and my theory is the Doors of Death are somehow open. It's the only lead we've got so we have to follow it" Nico explained. I raised one eyebrow. "Two things. One, you really didn't say why Chiron was angry at you. Does it have something to do with what you said and two, we? Who is we?" I asked. Nico sighed a deep sigh. "I told Chiron about my theory on the Doors of Death being opened again. This, coupled with Brigit's description of the monster coming back, I thought it had something to do with Gaia. Of course it really though. Chiron… I don't know. I think he knows something like this has happened before and the result wasn't good" Nico said. I couldn't really follow a lot of that but I simply said, "What about _we_? Who is We?" I asked. "You and I. We need to speak with Dad" Nico said. "How do we get into the Underworld from here?" I asked. Going into the Underworld was creepy enough, even me being the son of the god of death but it still freak me out a bit. Certain parts of it anyway. "I used Mrs. O'Leary to get here by Shadow Travel so we need to find the nearest entrance. You'd think Chiron might have talked to the Gods about adding one here at camp but he hasn't" Nico said. He scratched his nose. "Can't you sense them?" I asked. "Yeah. I'm trying to find the closest one" Nico snapped. His face screwed up in concentration. Katie Gardener came slowly up the steps a few minutes later. Nico's face was contorted in an ugly look. "What's with him?" Katie asked me. I shrugged. "He's trying to find the nearest entrance to the Underworld. I don't think he's succeeding" I explained. Something hard hit me in the back of the head and I nearly staggered down the steps and face-planted in the dirt. I had to windmill my arms to keep my balance. Nico's face had cleared. His hand was up and it look like he was the one who had hit me. Katie gave us both weird looks and entered the Big House without another backwards glance. "Dude? What was that for?" I asked after Katie had left the porch and closed the door. "Have a little faith" Nico muttered before walking off the porch. "Where's the nearest entrance?" I asked as we walked. "Not that far. Just on the north corner of Central Park" Nico said. "How do we get there?" I asked. "We get Argus to take us" Nico said. He didn't look happy about riding in a car with the many eyed security guard. I grimaced myself. "Let's go" I muttered.

The ride to where Nico said the entrance the Underworld would be was worse than a cab ride. Argus didn't say anything nor did Nico. The same words kept running through my head. The Ring of Gyges. The Ring of Gyges. The Ring of Gyges. Something that could turn Gaea's forces invisible at will. It would make them hard to beat for sure. But, what could our side do with an artifact like that? Argus slammed on the brakes and I nearly went rocketing out of my seat. I would've except for my seatbelt. But then my seatbelt locked and I was forced to sit back hard against the metal seat. Nico started muttering to himself as if making calculations. After a minute I heard ancient Greek. I tried to follow what he was saying. "_Not long ago… oh no. freeing Death… no… no… Ha- oh… hmm… I'm with Kyle… can't say that… Haz- no… what if he's listening… can't say that… Death captured… doors open… can't understand… Dad cut off… never see him…" _"DUDE!" I exclaimed. I couldn't take it any longer. It sounded like he was going insane. I couldn't have my best friend going insane could I? Nico jumped in his seat. "How much did you hear?" he asked sharply. "Something about Death being captured. Oh yeah, and someone named something like Haz" I said looking at Nico's pale face. "Hazel" Nico muttered. "Hazel?" I repeated. "Yeah. She's dead" Nico said and turned to look out the window. I felt sorry for him. His whole family was dead except for his dad. Who never really spoke with him. It was the same with my family. Thanatos, my dad was way too busy with keeping everything dead. I pulled myself out of my self-miseries and looked out the window with Nico. We were slowing down. Nico raised his hand to Argus to stop completely. "It's near here" Nico said. I nodded. He hadn't done any muttering after I'd caught him at it. Argus stopped the car and we got out. Time to find the entrance to the Underworld.

Nico led us right to the entrance with no trouble. He pointed to a jutting out rock pile and we walked over to it. He said something about feeling… death. I could feel something too, like a tingle running through my whole body. As we got closer this feeling increased to the feeling when a roller-coaster goes into free fall. It was nausea deep in my stomach. How could the mortals not feel it? Only a young boy stood by the rock taking pictures with a yellow disposable camera. He was talking to himself. "Emalia will love these pictures of New York" the young man said. He turned and bumped into Nico. "Oh, a Goth?" he pondered to himself before walking off. Nico truly could look like a Goth sometimes. I thought as we approached the rock. "Where's the entrance Nico?" I asked. Nico pondered this for a second and pointed to an outcropping of rock. "How do we get _in_? " I demanded. "Oh shut up Kyle. I'm thinking we have to tap the rock in a certain pattern, sing a little, or say a password" Nico said. "Oh joy to the world!" I muttered and walked over to an outcropping of rock. Just at this time a passing police officer decided to take some interest in us. He began to walk over toward us. Nico began tapping the rock with no apparent pattern to his tapping. "Nico?" I asked. My voice sounded slightly shrill to my own ears. Why was I so scared of a mortal police officer? "Do you mind hurrying up?" I asked. Nico tapped a few more stones. The rock did absolutely squat. The Police Officer arrived. "Hello young man, 'ow are you doin' today?" he asked. I saw a gold tooth. Weird. "Um… great!" I said. "What's your friend doin' tappin' 'at rock?" the Police man asked. He had a heavy New Jersey accent. "Just… erm… feeling it. you know we're not from around here" I said. I took a step backwards but there was nowhere to go. I ended up stumbling on some rock. There was a loud rumbling. I looked at the Police man and waved a final wave before there was nothing behind me. I slipped down some long steps before I regained my balance. Nico was walking next to me. "I've got good news and bad news" he said. I got up and followed him down the black steps. "And that is?" I inquired. "Which one do you want to her first?" Nico asked. "Good news" I said glumly. My head hurt all of a sudden. "We found the entrance to the Underworld!" Nico said. "And the bad news?" I asked. "We managed to alert all of New York City" Nico said. For a moment I stared at him. Then I shook my head once. "How did we alert all of New York?" I asked. Nico shrugged. ''We're Demigods. You tripped and fell and opened a black portal to the Underworld. You don't see that every day in New York" Nico said. I rolled my eyes and turned to forge ahead on the black staircase.

It seemed dark at first but then the faintest grey light permeated through the blackness. We had been walking for what seemed like hours. I wished all these black steps would end. But this walking gave me time to think. Strange things had been afoot here since the Titan war. I remembered dueling some monsters with Hermes cabin, then Nico showing up with his dad to save the day. The thing that I was contemplating the most was the arrival of the new camper Nila. She seemed nice enough but you could never be sure. My thoughts drifted from her to the Ring of Gyges and then the quest. The lines of the prophecy played on my mind too, "_night strikes dark, pure and black" _I said before realized I'd said it out loud. I needn't have worried about Nico. He was back to his muttering in ancient Greek. Maybe it had to do with actual night or maybe a chamber as black as night itself. I wasn't sure. "_Only the song of the lark, can free the light" _I wasn't sure what that line meant. Something told me it wouldn't be an ordinary lark though. Something also played at the back of my mind. A name that might have significance. I couldn't think of it though. I gave a deep sigh and thought of the next line of the Prophecy. "_In late July, as the flowers bloom, one shall die, and not be entitled to everlasting doom_" that probably meant someone would die. Whether it was one of the quest goers or an important person to this quest. I didn't get "_And not be entitled to everlasting doom" _though. When you died… you died. There was no getting out of it. I mean, no one can escape death. Death had taken my family. My dad had too many things to do instead of stopping once in a while to visit. I thought of Stella, daughter of Athena. She'd died unclaimed in the battle of Olympus. I thought of Noah, son of Hermes. He'd died in the Battle for the Labyrinth. No one could ever escape death. Or my dad. "_And the search shall end, for the Heirloom" _once one person died they would find the Ring of Gyges. I looked ahead down the dark steps. At first, all I could see was darkness but then I saw the faintest grey light up ahead. "Nico?" I asked. Nico looked over at me. His face was only just illuminated in the light of my celestial bronze arrows and bow. "What?" he asked. Nico had been muttering in Greek for some time now and he looked pretty angry that I'd interrupted him. What had… no, was happening to him. I didn't think he was losing it but I could never tell. "Um… I see a faint light up ahead" I said. While we'd been talking for just those few seconds the light had become more pronounced. "Kyle" Nico said. He raised his hands and pointed at the light. He waited for a few seconds for dramatic effect. We kept walking while all this was happening. Then, the light became just bright enough to see by. Then the staircase suddenly wasn't under my feet anymore and I had to wind-mill my arms wildly to keep upright. "To the fields of Asphodel! Entering by staircases like takes a bit of getting used to. At least it did for me" Nico said grandly waving his hand to the surrounding. We were in a big expansive grey field with spirits drifting listlessly across it like clouds. "Ya think?" I asked before turning around. In the distance I saw the Palace of Hades. "Great! Let's start walking. It'll take us a few hours to get there. Then I want to stop by and see Tarturus" Nico said. He began walking toward the Palace of Hades. "You can't just drop by and see Tarturus like it's a tourist attraction! Nico! Nico?" I yelled after my best friend. He threw a cocky grin over one shoulder and kept walking. "Why not? Are you coming or what?" Nico asked.

The fields seemed to starch on forever and ever and ever. I got tired of walking after the first four miles or so. "Will this field ever end?" I asked. "No. It is infinitely expansive, as expansive as the world or bigger to fit all the past and present dead. It expands to encompass the newest dead while older ones just float around doing nothing. It also goes over to the Isles of the Blest and the Elysium. The Fields of Punishment are also included in the Underworld. They house all the punished if you didn't already guess that. The Underworld has to fit all the dead from back when the world was young until now which is a lot of dead people" Nico explained. This seemed rather lengthy to me but I kept my mouth shut. "I mean to the Palace of Hades. Can we ever get there?" I burst out finally. "Yes. We should arrive in thirty minutes or so. Unless Dad sent the Three Furies after us. I doubt it if you know what I mean. The unlikely circumstances of Dad remembering to make our journey easier are highly unlikely" Nico said. Honestly. He did too much explaining! I sighed. Thirty more minutes of traveling in this lonely place. I had been here once before but it was strange and scary sometimes. Especially the Fields of Punishment. The only upside of this journey was that I had plenty of time to think about what was coming and the local goings on at Camp. Brigit was acting very one edge. She'd been like that ever since Piper, Leo and Jason had arrived at Camp. She was usually… friendlier. I sighed. Looking up ahead The Palace of Hades had loomed up quicker than I'd imagined possible. I faltered. Nico kept walking like nothing had happened. When he arrived at the gate a skeletal guard held out one bony hand. "Seriously. I'm the son of Hades! And this is the son of Thanatos. You do this every time erm… what's you name again?" Nico said to the guard. He strode forward to the gate. The skeleton made a clattering sound with his teeth. "Oh. Right. Sorry" Nico said. He looked at the black gate and then rattled it. "Let us in please!" he said cheerily. The skeleton clattered his teeth again then pulled a black rope that had been hanging in the darkness and the gates slowly clanged open. Nico walked through and shiver. "The death here always gets me. I can never get used to it" he said. "You're in the Underworld" I said sarcastically and stepped through the gateway. I felt a change in the air immediately. I stumbled and nearly fell over for the second time that day. I sighed. "You're right. It feels different in here" I muttered. "C'mon Kyle" Nico said and turned to stride into the palace.

Lord Hades sat in his throne stroking his arm rest with one finger. His greasy black hair was ragged and hung around his pallid face (As usual. Well, what I though was usual. I'd only met this guy once of don't judge me! Jeez. People these days!). We had entered the palace and a skeleton guard had shown us to the Throne Room. Persephone and Demeter stood on either side of Hades. I watched as Persephone narrowed her eyes at Nico. Then, she turned to me and gave a warm, welcoming smile. "Hello" she said. Hades looked up from the floor. "What are you doing her Nico?" he asked. His tone was cold and unreadable. As was his face. "Have you been eating you're cereal Grandson?" Demeter asked. "MOTHER! I have told you before. Nico De Angelo is not your proper grandson!" Persephone complained. Then she looked at Nico and snapped, "I still haven't forgiven you for stepping on my flowers in the garden! That is the only thing that reminds me of home!" "Darling. Admit it, I have made the palace to your… tastes" Hades said firmly then looked at me and Nico. "Forgive me son of Thanatos. I am sorry that you must see our petty quarrels. Wait. Why am I begging _your _forgiveness_?_" Hades said, "You did catch us in front of one of our family… disputes" I was pretty sure they would've gone to blows if I hadn't been there but I kept my mouth shut. My opinion wouldn't have been welcomed. "Why did you call me here?" I asked. "I called you and Nico here for several reasons. For one, I haven't seen you in a while so a formal 'Hello' is in order. The second reason in drastically more serious. Shall I begin? It is rather long" Hades said. I looked at Nico and he nodded just a bit. "Yes" I said. "There have been some interesting happenings near Tarturus. It has come to my attention that you plan to visit there. That is of importance. Report everything that feels wrong there. Also, people aren't staying dead. In fact, I had to send some monsters to re-kill one of those famous people in history. I think that Thanatos, and your father is captured by Gaea. So that makes her a master of Death. Literally. Monsters don't stay dead anymore as your friends Brigit, Skylar, and Charlotte found out. Things are very sticky here in the Underworld. The other gods think I'm working for Gaea!" Hades explained. "And why can't you do it?" Nico asked. Persephone gave Nico a sharp look. "Why can't _I _do it? Well, I'm doing everything in my power to get people back dead and keep them there. I am way too preoccupied" Hades said. He looked quite relaxed to me but I kept my mouth shut. "What about… _Lady _Persephone? Or Madame Demeter?" Nico asked clearly not wanting to do this assigned task. "I'll only go when you eat our cereal and go for six months behind a nice heavy plow. It builds character you know!" Demeter said. "I don't even like cereal! And, I couldn't even budge a plow if I wanted to! Not that I do" Nico said exasperatedly as Persephone cried, "MOTHER!" at the top of her lungs. The few skeletons that had been lingering in the chamber scattered. Demeter harrumphed. "I don't think I'm the farmer type either" I whispered to Nico. "I'll go to Tarturus when Kronos comes back from there!" Persephone said in a bit more of a dignified tone. "At this rate he probably will. And before we get out of this wretched palace!" I muttered then look up at Hades. "What did you say?" Hades asked angrily. "What's in it for us?" I asked quickly to draw attention to something other than me. I had a feeling if it stayed on me for too long, I would be a pile of smoldering ash.. "Oh. Not eternal doom. I will most likely give you Elysium if you die. Most likely. The normal stuff. A few jewels or something" Hades said distractedly, "Go. I have things to attend to" I looked at Nico and he shrugged. "To Tarturus we go!" Nico said cheerily.


	6. Chapter 6

Oops. I forgot to do this at the beginning!

DISCLAIMER:

I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON OR MOST OF THE OCs. ALL I OWN IS SKYLAR AND BRIGIT AND A FEW OTHER SMALL SIDE CHARACTERS.

I changed the format on request of Revenge77

And thank you to all who are reading and reviewing. Thank you!

Chapter Six

Mia

Thrice born of three dreams

I'm a daughter of the sea god Poseidon.

Most would think my life is awesome and everyone adores me.

Not so much.

People at camp don't exactly hate me, but they don't treat me like Percy. Percy is pretty much Dad's favorite son. Which is totally unfair but pretty much true. It's sad…

There is nothing I can do about it though. People just don't accept me for the daughter of Poseidon like they did Percy. And now that Percy is missing they don't even turn to me fore sea related problems. I'm not an outcast though. Not really.

I was lying on my bed felling lonely and dejected. Katie Gardener, my best friend was off doing something else and I was left to think about what had been happening recently and sighing repetitively (Oh, don't look at me like that! It feels very nice!).

My eyes wandered from the ceiling to my bare feet resting a little over the edge of my bunk, I had purposely done this so I could swing them around a bit and keep myself occupied for a few minute arranging and rearranging my pillows so I would be comfortable.

"Once upon a time…" I muttered to myself trying to think of something to take my mind off of being alone. Nothing came to me so I just let my voice trail off into nothingness.

I rolled over so I was facing the door. I knew no one would jump out and attack me but all the same… I wanted to be ready. Percy had always told me to be on my guard just in case something happened to me.

I wished that he was okay for the millionth time.

My celestial bronze sword, _Tsunami_ rested on the bedside table below me. I looked down at it for a very, very long moment think of all the monsters I had killed with that sword. How many battles I had been it fighting alongside my friends.

Those thoughts brought me to monsters coming back and how Brigit, with help from Charlotte and Skylar had described the monster they had encountered and how it had returned to life after they'd killed it.

I looked down at the hand mirror on the table and brushed my blond hair away from my eyes. They shone with tears that I hadn't noticed. I didn't feel like crying. I wasn't upset. I was just… lonely.

I sighed and flopped back on my pillow letting out a deep breath and stared at the ceiling again for a long moment. So long that it began to fade out as my eyes relaxed and slowly began to close.

I _was _tired.

I hadn't slept well since Percy had disappeared. I kept wonder if I was next. If someone was purposely picking off the Poseidon kids so they could have free rule. Then, this Jason Grace guy had shown up. Son of Zeus.

Son of Zeus.

I suddenly had an epiphany on what I thought could have happened to Percy. I sat straight up in bed forgetting my down time completely. Why hadn't I seen it before? Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, disappears then, Jason Grace, son of Zeus appears! Zeus!

I jumped down from my bunk ran to the door and was about to turn the knob when I paused. Annabeth would've already thought of that. She was extraordinarily smart so it was no use telling her. She'd also had a dream about the guy with one shoe so Jason was just a sign.

Just a sign.

The excitement I had felt a moment before vanished like vapor and I was left alone in the dark, lonely cabin of my godly father. Also, the tiredness I had felt before my epiphany was ebbing back into my system blocking my trains of though.

I walked back over to the bunk and climbed up the ladder at the foot of it. I had neglected to use this ladder before because I had just jumped. In fact, I usually didn't use this ladder unless climbing up to my bunk.

"Lights out and sleep time, sweet dreams Mia Brownell" I muttered to myself. I usually did this. I had started doing it after Percy had disappeared to comfort me. For the first month or so I had been so alone. So alone.

I let out a very, very long breath then I did it again to calm myself. Not that I needed to. I was already very tired.

I let my eyes go out of focus as I stared at the door then closed them and let blackness close in around me as I fell asleep.

Naturally, when I wished myself sweet dreams, I did not get them. That was the case today as I slept.

The first dream that came swimming into view. Unlike all the other times, it was the consistency of water, shimmering and moving about. What was more like normal was that it was an unreal nightmare haunted by spectral shapes and shadows. My nightmares were usually silent. This time, I could hear snippets of different voices seeming not to have any order whatsoever, sometimes talking over each other sometimes talking in unison and other times just walking alone.

"_And the search shall end_" came our local Oracle Rachel's voice through the imagery flashing around before my eyes. It was far away and came out hazy and distorted like she was talking face down in a mattress but it was definitely hers.

Then Rachel's face appeared with glowing green eyes rippling.

"Another quest must be issued" the rippling face of Rachel said. But it was not Rachel's voice that came out of the moving lips. Instead it was… Percy's? Why Percy's? I didn't understand… was it because Percy was near to me?

The whole dream rippled violently.

"Quickly Mia… Mia S. Ocean Brownell… I know you miss Percy… the only way to find him…" said the face of Rachel which was slowly morphing into Maria Goode's face but the eyes stayed the same and the voice had changed too. Into a low monotone as the face still shimmered with the odd swimming pool like light, "The only way to find him… is for a new quest…" the voice changed to the voice of Chiron, "To be issued… and once this happens… you must lead it… you miss" the voice turned into a haunting tone that I had never heard before but chilled me to the bone (Do you have bones in dreams…?), "Percy… it is time to get him…" the voice changed to Hera the queen of the gods' voice, "Back is lead it… Annabeth cannot go… she is needed at your little camp… she misses Percy almost more than you do…" the voice turned chilling again and the face morphed once more, for the last time I hoped, into Alexis Tyla Bane's face, "Talk to Chiron… and go…"

"Who must I take with me?" I burst out suddenly able to speak. My voice sounded small to my ears.

"Hmm… many are to be taken… on three quests… to the ends of the earth…" the face of Alexis said in that chilling voice, "But for you… I say for you to take… the daughter of Hermes who has befriended a wolf… and…" the voice changed the Rachel Dare's voice, "And the daughter of Apollo with the last name of Caroll" the face began to morph and change again back into Rachel and the voice turned silky smooth like velvet, "Land without warmth" it said.

Then, I was rushing forward in my dream. My hair was blowing back away from my face. I was rushing toward the mouth of Rachel. It opened and at the last moment the face morphed into Hera's face. Then I entered the mouth and everything around me fell into blackness.

Almost before the next dream started, I knew the first one (What a relief) had ended. I tried to sigh but couldn't in my sleep so I looked to see if I could find anything in the darkness. I didn't but I kept looking for some time wondering if I had had had a heart attack in my sleep and was on my way to the Underworld. Either way, I settled myself for a long, long, long flight through darkness until I saw a small light up ahead.

It wasn't even a light I realized. It was a reflection on something smooth.

Then, I was thrust into harsh sunlight. It reflected off the surface of what I was standing on. I realized the light reflection I had seen in the inky blackness was the reflection of light on ice. And I could feel the cold coming off the ice. It was frigid. I shivered violently which caused me to look down at myself.

I was wearing my camp T-shirt and a pair of ratty old jean shorts. I could even feel the cold on my leg. My sword _Tsunami _was in its sheath on my hip. It was fastened there with a leather belt looped around my waist. I could also see my face in the face. It was paler than normal almost like I was transparent. My platinum blond hair was tied out of my face in a ponytail which wouldn't have been my first choice in hairdo but I could work with it.

I was about to kneel down and examine myself further in the watery reflection in the in the ice when a velvety voice spoke.

My head snapped up and I snapped to attention examining my surroundings before I listened to the voice. It was the only sound I could hear at first.

I was standing on a huge block of ice with unknown empty buildings around me. There was no sign on life except for the man chained in shackles of ice that melded into the ice block itself.

The man was cloaked and hooded so I couldn't see anything but black gloved hands and black booted feet. His voice though penetrated me and cut through me like the sharpest sword. Even sharper than when my right arm had been sliced.

"Hello, Mia S. Ocean Brownell" the man said in his velvety voice that resonated through me.

"Are… are you a God?" I asked. I was surprised my voice even worked. It had worked in the last dream also when my mind had given way to a tad pit of panic but… I was very amazed it worked here in this dream too.

The man under the cloak laughed bitterly like I had said something funny.

"Yes. I'm a God. My name is Thanatos. The God of Death" he said.

"Thanatos… Kyle's father?" I asked.

"Yes. By the way, is he alright?" Thanatos asked.

"I haven't seen him since this morning" I said, "But no need to worry"

"I never worry" Thanatos said.

Somehow, some way, this brought me back to my missing brother. Perhaps it was the worry blinding my judgment and muddling up my head so I couldn't think straight. I honestly didn't know. All I knew was I was on an ice burg somewhere _very _cold.

"Can you help me find my brother half-brother? His name is… Percy Jackson" I said finally settling on what I thought was good. I didn't know if I could trust this Thanatos character but I had a feeling that he could help me find Percy. This brought me back no worry clouding my judgment. Oops.

"Percy Jackson eh?" Thanatos mulled Percy's name over and over again in his mouth as if trying to match it to a face that he might know, "Percy Jackson… yes, I think I can help you… not really help you as you can see, I'm in a bit of a bind. But, I have heard of Percy Jackson… yes. I believe I have…"

Thanatos's velvety voice seemed to calm me in some way because I felt calmer and more relaxed all of a sudden. Or maybe that was just the worry that I'd been feeling for quite some time ebbing away just a bit.

There was hope after all. Percy wasn't dead.

"_Maybe he is_" said a _much _unbidden voice in the back of my mind snidely, "_Thanatos… you idiot is the God of Death. Hades' secretary in a manner of speaking. And what does Hade's secretary do? Well, good question. Three words. God. Of. Death. He keeps thing dead and guards the borders of the Underworld itself! God. Of. Death. Think about it. There a very big chance Percy is dead and you'll never see your big half-brother again_"

_Shut up voice_. I though furiously at that unbidden voice and it fell as silent as death. Does anyone besides me find that ironic and scary at the same time? Silent as death. And also, as silent as Death (The person).

I realized that Thanatos had gone silent as if waiting.

Then it hit me.

He was waiting for me to ask a question of him.

"Why are you chained?" I blurted out.

"I cannot tell you that" Thanatos said silkily, "It would alter the events yet to happen"

"Percy. How can you help me find Percy?" I inquired rather impatiently. You can't blame me with the answer he had given me when I'd asked his why he was chained.

"Hmm… have the children of the Blacksmith and Wisdom's Daughter build the ship of war to sail. Then, the Son of the Sky shall tell you where you need to go. And he can lead you there" Thanatos said thoughtfully. This all sounded way too cryptic to me, "Then, board the ship. If you ever want to see your brother again. But it has come to my attention; do not ask me how, that there is a quest waiting for you when you awake. There is something important that needs doing in the meantime"

The image turned foggy and Thanatos's form began to blur terribly so I could barely make him out before he blended in with the rest of the swirling world (Though, how a figure in a black cloak could blend in with reflective ice I don't know).

Then, Thantos's voice rang clear through everything, "And, tell the one who hates the Lark that she is to have an important quest too. And she must take with her the Daughter of The Lord of the Sun and her enemy, the one Lark, Daughter of Magic. And that the Daughter of the Sun, the Daughter of the North, and the Daughter of Victory that they must make haste to-!" then his voice became unintelligible.

"Hurry to where?" I tried to scream at Thanatos's disembodied voice but the words I had been trying to say just wouldn't come out. All that came out was a harsh rasp. The words were stuck in my throat so I couldn't speak.

Then, everything around me, the swirling colors and twisting patterns vanished and I was falling, or suffering the illusion of falling. I wasn't quite sure which but it registered in my befuddled mind (My mind was all messed up because of what Thanatos had said) as plummeting toward plain earth that had nothing surrounding it for miles.

It looked like I had a few more minutes before I hit the ground though so that gave me time to think about what Thanatos had said. He'd not been much help and been awfully cryptic but all the same he'd said something about Brigit's quest.

He said something like "_The Blacksmith's Children and Wisdom's Daughter must build their ship of war to sail_" I groaned out loud and was very surprised to find I could in this dream as well. This was not normal. I groaned again. How come Gods had to be so darn cryptic? Tell me that someone!

"_And she is to take with her Daughter of the_ _Lord of the Sun and her enemy, the Lark, Daughter of Magic_" Thanatos had said. I knew what 'The Lark, Daughter of Magic' was. Our local resident Skylar Lark. At least I thought so. But who was, 'Daughter of the Lord or the Sun?' I had no idea. Or maybe I did.

When I had been called to the Big House when Brigit was getting her prophecy, Chiron had chosen to call Alexis and Valarie (Oops. Sorry, I've never talked to Valarie but I think she likes Val better). They were both children of Apollo. I thought back to my dream before Thanatos. The rippling face. It had said Val was supposed to come on my quest that meant that Alexis was to go with Skylar and Ollie on a quest for… something. Nobody had said what the quest would be for!

Then, I looked down and realized that the ground had come up quickly and that I was about to crash into it! I would be killed (Can you be killed in dreams? Somebody say no! Somebody!) In an instant.

But then, only seconds before the impact my tumbling fall seemed to slow by a considerable amount. And it continued to do that until I was floating down like a feather. The fear I had felt moments before evaporated but returned just as quickly as it had vanished.

A huge, no gigantic, earthen face was on the ground. It sat on a rising slope so I could see it completely. It was of a woman who looked about middle aged. The woman's eyes were closed, shut tight against the sunlight pouring down from all sides.

But all the same, the woman of the earth spoke. Her voice sent shivers up and down my spine, then through my whole body. Her voice, I had heard before in my other dream. Though, I didn't imagine this earthen woman would be who it belonged to.

"Hello little child of the Greek sea God. I am" but before the woman said her name I already knew it somehow, "Gaea"

"Gaea?" I hissed at her.

"The first Goddess, mother of Kronos. I am known by many names. Most common among mortals is Mother Earth" Gaea said in a confirming one. If it was possible for the earthy face to nod it did, "And your name is Mia S. Ocean Brownell. Daughter of Poseidon! Ah, your father has ruined the sea in my opinion. And when I take over, it shall be returned to its formal primal instincts. And you shall be my Pawn. A big role Pawns play. For you cannot win a game without them. Everyone has roles to play; the Pawns always take the brunt of the attack somehow. Yes, you and your brother shall be my Pawns. I have others, but I will make sure you will be treated the best by my forces. I can keep you from death. Though you could still feet pain. Funny, I have felt it for centuries as 'Modern civilization' grows and spreads across my face. So, that it why I need you to be my Pawn. To help me along my way to regain the earth and return it to when it was primal"

"I'll never serve you and neither will my brother! I don't think you can ever win against us Demigods!" I shouted up bravely toward Gaea.

If it was possible for her face to crease into a frown, it did.

"Don't you see? By trying to stop me, by making and effort to fight me and try to keep me asleep, in the state that I am now, you _are _helping me. You will help me in the end too. Whether it be of you own will, or against it" Gaea said smoothly.

"What do you mean?" I asked, "What do you mean, serve you 'of my own will or against it'? You can't make me do anything" I said shooting my words at Gaea like a cannonball from a canon.

'Mother Earth' recoiled at this a bit, if that was possible.

"Why can't you see that I am the earth? The earth is me" Gaea said as if explaining something to a very small toddler, "And, everything that lives on the earth is mine and has always been mine. You can't just walk into the sky! I even see on Olympus! I see how Zeus has cut himself off. He was embarrassed about having to call for help from Demigods. So, he cut off Olympus from contact to the Demigods, he recalled Dionysus, or as I hear you call him, Mr. D. And brought him back to Olympus. Zeus thinks this whole thing can be fought without the help from Demigods. He is wrong! He will never admit it. Why am I telling you this? Because Zeus is too proud, prouder than Athena, or almost all of the other Gods. And he is foolish enough to try to fight me by himself. With just a few of Olympians to back him up. Artimes is not returning to Olympus on his call. Instead she hunts. It will only be a minor setback. As will her Hunters. As I understand, one of Zeus's daughters is her new lieutenant. He'll be sad when his daughter dies. And all the other Demigods" the last few sentences were more Gaea speaking to herself more than to me.

"Thalia…" I said softly under my breath.

I hadn't seen the Daughter of Zeus in forever.

Now her pale skinned face came swimming into view. Her electric blue eyes and spikey black hair. Dressed in her Hunter Parka and Cargo Pants with combat boots. Her long spear in one hand, her shield in the other.

"Pawns… funny how they work. I have seen much in my long… long life. One thing I saw was a game called chess. Nights, Rooks, Bishops, Kings, Queens… and Pawns. Yes, a complicated game of strategy. Pawns. Pawns. You are a Pawn" Gaea mused to herself.

"What do you mean? I will go on a quest! We will thwart you moves at every turn! You cannot win Gaea!" I shouted at the face.

"Or can I?" Gaea purred, "Wouldn't it be easier I you just gave up and served me? Your friends would die… but it would be for the greater good. The greater good. Just say you'll join. Just say those words and you'll live. You would see Percy again. You want to see Percy again"

Her offer tempted me by a long shot but something inside of me was screaming, "_NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! BE LOYAL TO YOUR FRIENDS AND SAY NO! YOU'LL DIE ANYWAY. YOU'LL NEVER SEE PERCY EVER AGAIN!" _

"No" I said softly.

"What was that?" Gaea asked sharply.

"I said, NO!" I shouted at the face, "I'll never join you"

"Pity" Gaea said, "Then you'll die with the rest. But my offer remains open. For a time" her last words became muffled as her mouth began to sink into her face.

Then, the face in the earth dissolved into normal earth except for the eyes. They stayed the longest staring intently at me for several long moments after the fast had dissolved into the plain slight rising slope again.

That was when Gaea's voice rang out clear, "Careful where you step. And tell the Daughter of the Sun she is doomed to fail. And that I have sent someone to track her and her friends. Her quest is a death mission. So is yours"

"STOP!" I attempted to yell but the words just wouldn't come out. I couldn't move either. I was stuck as the world around me imploded.

I couldn't scream or even make a sound. I realized I couldn't breathe either. I wasn't suffocating though.

I wrenched my eyes open.

I was staring at the ceiling above my bed. The light of a sunset outside shone over me. I was sweating terribly and breathing heavily.

Wait.

Light that looked like it was sunset?

Did that mean Brigit, Charlotte, and Maria had already left?

And, being a bit less significant I thought of another fearful thought.

What if I had missed dinner?

I was famished.


	7. Chapter 7

Okay, if you want to see the cover art, ?q=Brigit+Xavier+Cover+Art#/d5secsh

I think this link will work. Of not, copy it and paste it in a search area or something.

Chapter Seven

Alexis

Something Brewing

I sat down next to Brigit at the Apollo Table at Mess.

Maria, Charlotte and she were waiting until Chiron gave the word for them to leave. He had some of our other siblings packing away food and medical supplies in three packs. The three quest goers had already packed their clothes tightly at the bottom.

Brigit was now rolling the many hair ties on her wrist around in a nervous manner and occasionally scratching the bridge of her nose in an irritated manner.

"Brigit, relax. I'm sure it's nothing too big and nothing you can't handle. You're very capable" I reassured her. I didn't exactly look up to Brigit but she could take care of herself (Plus, she was the self-appointed second in command of Apollo Cabin. The first being Will Solace).

Brigit moved her hair ties around and scratched the bridge of her nose again.

"And what if it is big? I've never led a quest before" Brigit said looking at me.

I sighed deeply.

"That is why Chiron chose you. That or he just wanted to get rid of you" I said patting her back, "Now eat your pizza. You'll need your strength"

A small smile flitted across Brigit's face.

"Kay, but, we have to find the Ring of Gyges and the Sword of Peleus! And, with my luck, one of them is in Great Britten!" Brigit said waving on hand emphatically (The other hand being full of her rather good looking pepperoni pizza).

Brigit took a huge bite of pizza and leaned back to listen to what I had to say next.

Which was absolutely squat.

When I didn't say anything Brigit sighed.

"Chiron came and saw me after I got the quest. He said I was to set out tonight after Mess. And, a little secret, I know the Gods have stopped listening to our prayers. Something is happening up there. I couldn't tell you what. Dad visited me though in a dream I had. I was resting up you see for the journey. And he was the one that told me that. On the bright side, this journey might take us near Seattle where Mom lives" Brigit said trying, but failing, to sound falsely cheerful.

I saw Maria and Charlotte coming across the pavilion wearing similar outfits.

They both wore Camo parkas over their orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirts. They had on Camo Cargo pants and tall boots.

Maria tapped Brigit on the shoulder.

"What?" Brigit asked.

"Chiron says it's time. We've waited long enough" Charlotte said quietly so only Brigit and a few people in the close vicinity could hear. Most were tactful enough to pretend not to have heard and continue eating as if nothing had ever happened.

"What about the outfits?" Brigit asked jokingly as they walked away.

"Yours is waiting in the Big House" Charlotte said.

"Chiron says we need to be prepared for anything. He remembers something about cold" Maria said flatly.

I watched them walk off toward the Big House.

Something that Brigit had said was bothering me. I couldn't place it.

Almost as soon as they had left Mia sprinted in her platinum blond hair flying around her head.

"Where are Brigit, Charlotte, and Maria?" Mia panted bending over.

"They just went to the Big House" I told Mia.

"Great!" Mia said and sprinted off.

A few minutes later the whole Pavilion (Which still hadn't returned to its normal activities and in eating and chatting the night away) saw Brigit, Charlotte and Maria, all dressed in Camo parkas, cargo pants, and boots climbing up and up the hill that led to Thalia's Pine.

Mia reappeared a minute later with Chiron clip-clopping along behind her.

"I have something to tell Alexis Tyla Bane, Ollie Stoll, Valarie Demitri Caroll, Jadelyn Salinas, and Skylar Lark" Mia announced to the whole Pavilion (Which had _still _not returned to its normal activates of the evening).

There was a hurry of movement at the Hermes table, the Hecate table, and the Apollo Table (Which I was sitting at) but I wasn't convinced I needed to stand up for anything right at that moment so as Valarie (Oops. So sorry, Val) got to her feet and walked over to join Mia, Skylar and Ollie (Who were glaring daggers at each other) I stayed firmly in my seat and did not whatsoever make a move to get to my feet and follow them.

Mia did a quick head count and looked at everyone's faces in her small posse then did a double take on me, still calmly at the Apollo Table not moving.

"OI! Alexis. Get over here. Chiron wants us to meet at the Big House" Mia said.

"Why didn't you just say so? I've always wanted my dinner to be interrupted for some minor matter!" I muttered sarcastically.

What? I was hungry!

You know, being a Demigod you burn a _lot _of calories in a day so after I'd eaten a full meal I would be content to do something.

"Hurry up" Skylar chided.

I had the feeling she didn't like being dragged away from her food either and was eager to get this whole ordeal over with.

I sighed and go to my feet.

"Let's go!" Mia said happily.

"What's Chiron calling us away from our lovely dinner for?" Skylar said crossing her arms as she walked. The expression on her face a mix between anger, frustration and something else I wasn't sure which category to place in in.

"Well, he told me, after I'd told him about the three odd dreams I had that I was to come get the foretold people that were to accompany me and Ollie on our separate quests and-!" Mia started explaining but Ollie cut her off.

"You mean I'm leading a quest?" she demanded.

"Apparently" Jade muttered.

Val had been quiet during this and now she spoke, "Guys. Can we just let Mia explain what she has to say to us? Or will we have to walk all the way to the Big House before we find out what we're supposed to be doing?" she snapped.

"Jeez" Ollie said.

"Yeah" Skylar said.

For once, they were in total agreement.

This seemed to cross their minds right at the same time and the two of them both started talking at once. Too fast for me to follow.

Mia shook her head and climbed the steps of the Big House, which at this point we had reached.

She turned around to face everyone, "See, that wasn't so bad!" she chirped happily and turned on her heel to enter the big, looming Big House doorway behind her.

I was the first to follow her, my curiosity getting the better of me and wanting to know what in the world was going on around here. Something was definitely brewing in Camp Half-Blood. And I had a feeling I wouldn't like the result.

As soon as entered the main room of the Big House I knew something was… wrong wasn't quite the right word. Nor was amiss. Something was… Different. That was all I could say for what I could feel in the air.

Everything was tense.

Chiron sat at the Ping-Pong table which had been temporarily been converted into a meeting table. His hands rested calmly on the table but I could see everything muscle in his body was locked, as if he was ready to pounce on something (Which made no sense at all! I mean, cats pounce, horses… not so much!).

"Sit down" Chiron said calmly.

Everyone sat.

"What is it?" Jade finally asked.

Chiron took a deep breath.

"Not long ago, actually only a few minutes ago, Mia came sprinting in here. She was yelling about two more quests going out and something not right and how Death spoke to her" Chiron said.

"I knew it!" Skylar shouted jumping up and down. Seriously, she scares me sometimes. How does Brigit put up with her?

"Knew what?" I asked.

"That she was insane! Of her rocker!" Skylar said.

"I am not insane!" Mia said smacking Skylar hard.

Skylar crossed her arms and put her nose up in the air not looking at anything in particular.

"I am highly offended that you would think such a thing of me!" Mia said primly, "Anyway, Chiron. Continue please. With the story that is" she wasn't usually this prim. Come to think of it, none of us were. She was just acting to annoy Skylar.

"Anyway" Chiron said. The corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly, "Mia ran in here saying that Death spoke to her and that there were to be two more quests going on while we build the Argo II. The leaders of these quests are supposed to be her and Ollie" Chiron motioned to Ollie who was sitting on a folding chair that had been set up, "And, so you both must go up to the Oracle and-!" But I cut him off mid-sentence.

"You mean Rachel. Don't dehumanize her!" I corrected him.

"Yes, Rachel Dare. You must go up and see her and get your quests. I will do my best to arrange transport for you to leave the camp" Chiron explained, "Now, quickly, you must go to Rachel and get your prophecies"

Ollie got up and left immediately followed by Mia. Waiting for them was like an eternity extended ten thousand years. I was sitting on the edge of Ollie's folding chair. Which I had claimed after Ollie had left the building.

"They're coming back" Val said. She was leaning against the door.

I sighed and crossed my arms in an 'About time' kind of way as they walked in. Everyone always says, patients is a virtue. I don't say, 'which I don't have'. But when you're waiting for someone to come back from an oracle with a prophecy that could alter the course of the future you can get pretty impatient.

"Well?" Skylar asked. She'd been angry ever since I'd sat in Ollie's chair and not let her sit down. But I knew she was just acting. She wasn't the best actor in the world. That was how I could tell. Every few minutes or so, her guard would drop.

Mia sighed deeply before opening her mouth to speak,

"Across the ocean to a faraway land,

Through the desert sand,

You will find what you seek,

On the highest mountain peak"

As she finished she looked pointedly at Val and Jade.

"What?" Jade asked putting her hands on her hips. She glared back at Mia.

"You're coming with me. My dream said so. It said, 'the daughter of Hermes who has befriended a wolf and the daughter of Apollo with the last name of Caroll'! And, I know that the prophecy isn't much to go on but-!"

"That's nothing to go on!" Val said interrupting Mia.

Mia sighed very deeply (Even deeper than before which I didn't think was possible), and snapped at Val, "Look Val, I know it's not much to go on but my brother is missing and I want to find him. So, if you don't mind shut up and listen to what needs to be done! If you don't want to go, I'm sure I can arrange someone else to do your job for you. And now, if you don't mind, we need to get to work figuring out what in the world this prophecy means!"

Val looked taken aback by this sudden outburst and Jade put her head in her hands and began to shake it back and forth.

"Sorry" Mia muttered and turned away regaining her composure, "Now, we need to figure out what across the ocean means. Which ocean we need to cross and so on. Now let's get to work and leave these other quest goers in peace"

Jade and Val looked at each other shrugged simultaneously and got up to follow Mia out of the Big House.

Chiron looked completely un-phased by this and looked to Ollie as if prompting her. When nothing happen he said, "Ollie and what pray tell is your prophecy?" Ollie started. She'd been staring out the window.

"Oh! Oh, sorry Chiron. I was just distracted. My prophecy right" Ollie closed her eyes and began to recite.

"A goddess released,

The snow has ceased,

A goddess turned traitor

To Gaea, her creator,

Seeks out revenge where none is to be found,

In the sky,

Not on the ground"

"What does that mean?" I demanded.

"It means Charlotte's mom is angry and out for revenge. Most likely on me" it was a voice from the doorway. It was Leo who had spoken but Jason was standing next to him. (Wow, he recovered quickly from that sunburn!)

"Or me" Jason said shrugging his shoulders. He entered the room followed by Leo and then, from behind the two boys, Piper.

"What are _you _doing here?" Skylar demanded. I saw her hand twitch along the hilt of her long sword before resting gently on it. I suppose dislike is either contagious or Skylar has just been acting friendly to them and really never like them.

"We have as much right to be here as you do" Piper snapped. For some reason she seemed to be on very short temper lately.

"What is it Leo, Jason, Piper?" Chiron asked exasperatedly.

"I just followed them" Leo said, "Then I caught a few words of the prophecy and decided I would comment on it. OW!" Ollie had gotten up and smacked him on that back of the head. Skylar glared at her disapprovingly.

"OLLIE! You should be ashamed of yourself! You're tapping him on the head" Skylar said before getting up and walking over to Leo, "This is a tap" she did what Ollie had done to Leo again, "This is a smack" she smacked Leo very hard before he had time to move away.

"OW!" he exclaimed in anger, frustration and pain.

"STOP!" Chiron yelled loudly.

"Piper and I are here because we were looking for Annabeth. We have something that Piper just thought of about our quest" Jason explained. Piper nodded her agreement. Leo just rubbed his head and glared very pointedly at Skylar.

I sighed.

"C'mon. Ollie, Skylar. Let's go. We need to get packed. And get back to Mess… I'm famished!"

Something was definitely brewing in Camp Half-Blood and around it.

Definitely.


	8. Chapter 8

Hi! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'll try to update faster next time. I don't own anything except for Brigit and Skylar and a few mentions of side characters that are some of my random OCs. If there is any way I can make my writing better please tell me. But no flaming. Thanks. And thank you for all you people who have been reviewing me. I would like to know if the plot is progressing fast enough or too fast and stuff like that. Anything that can help the plot become better would be good too. But anyway, you probably want to read the next chapter not listen to me (The Author) talk about stuff that isn't of the greatest importance. So, before I get distracted with another thing to quickly mention, the eighth chapter!

Chapter Eight

Jade

Ahh… across the seven sea monster?

I awoke the next morning in the Hermes Cabin (Obviously. It wasn't like I was going to sleep outside or something!). Like always, it was busy with activity. I prided myself with getting up early enough to beat some of the other campers but today looked like almost everyone was up already.

People rushed about doing different activities that didn't seem to help any of the other people in the cabin. One girl kept tripping over the same person who was still fast asleep on the floor snoring loudly. At least _he _was still asleep.

I was very tired. It wasn't that I'd stayed up late last night, it was that… um… maybe I had stayed up a little late. Well, don't blame me! I was hyper. I was really happy that I'd finally gotten to go out on a quest and now… it was happening.

"Hello sleepy head" it was Travis Stoll, "Get up, we're all trying to help you and Ollie pack up to go. Yep. So get up and get dressed so we can have you help us. You know you're leaving at noon right?" he asked pleasantly enough.

"Yeah" I muttered sleepily, "Let me just have a few more minutes in bed. I'm just so… tired" I murmured. Out of the corner of my half closed eye, I could see Conner standing there. Then Travis nodded at him.

Even my sleep befuddled brain processed what that meant.

_Uh-oh. _

There was a yank underneath me and then I was falling out of my bed. Down. Down. Down. It really wasn't that far down but with the impact I hit, it felt like I'd fallen twenty feet or so. Red hot pain shot through my whole body as I hit.

I jumped to my feet and stuck a very accusing finger into Travis's chest. Hard, I might add. "What in the world were you thinking? I could've landed on my head or something! Conner, come back here. You're not getting off that easy!"

"But you didn't land on your head Jade. So chill" Conner said walking back over to us were we stood in the middle of the chaos, "Plus, you didn't want to get out of bed so we pulled you out. We're not going to prepare for a quest that you're not going on!"

I sighed. It looked like I had to put up with Conner and Travis for a little longer. Not that I minded… revenge would be sweet.

Roughly three and a half hours later we (Meaning the six questers) had assembled in the Big House. We had separated into two groups and were all chatting or talking (Or just sitting down feeling awkward).

Ollie, Alexis and Skylar were talking in hushed tones. Maybe they were planning something. I couldn't tell. Occasionally Skylar or Ollie would stamp one of their feet or yell something indignant or rude about the other. I couldn't see why they disliked each other.

I, on the other hand, talked loudly enough with Val and Mia who had lots of interesting things to say about where they'd lived or what they'd done while they weren't at Camp Half-Blood. None of them had gone on quests before.

I thought this was interesting.

"Ahem! You are all here? Good" Chiron had just entered, "Well, I hate to see you six leave camp, but, what must be done, must be done. So, do you all have your backpacks? Nectar and Ambrosia? Extra clothes and all your assorted weapons? Water canteens? Good." Chiron said, "Now, Argus will take you out of camp in the van. Once you reach New York, Argus will leave. Then, you're on your own to complete your quests. Iris Message us if you really, really, really need too"

"Um… okay…" Ollie said.

"Now go. Argus is waiting at the top of the hill"

It wasn't long before the van the six of us were riding in arrived in New York, right next to Central Park. We all clambered out and took in our surroundings. I looked about the park, unaware that the van's motor had begun to hum again and it was trundling down the busy streets of New York.

"We need to find a beach. And a boat. Something to take us to a faraway land" Mia said flatly and Ollie, Alexis and Skylar wandered off and were enveloped by the crowd. I looked at their backs as they walked away.

"But which land is it?" I asked, sincerely puzzled by this, "Is it Australia? England? France? Africa? China?" I waved my hands emphatically to press my point on my companions, "We can't get on with this quest unless we know!" at this point, Val began to chuckle, "What?" I demanded.

"The answer is given in the prophecy! Think about what it says. See, it says 'Through the Desert Sand' as one of the lines, thus it means Africa, Egypt to be exact. Then, the highest mountain peak that is mentioned must be Mount Catherine, Latitude 28.51, Longitude 33.955!"

Mia and I both stared uncomprehendingly at Val for a long moment before I blurted, "WTH? How the heck do you know that?"

Val shrugged and then grinned, "I just remembered it from geography class. I took it at my old school. Well, before I drew monster to it and blew the place sky high. Nobody survived the explosion. Except me. Obviously"

I could see that the memory of this made her sad. I wondered if she'd had some friends in that explosion that had died. To make her feel better I drew myself up to my full height and said, "To Africa, or, more specifically, Egypt!"

It wasn't long before we found a boat. It was sitting abandoned, and half wrecked on the beach. It looked like it would sink if we put it in the water. But, other than that, it looked pretty seaworthy. Okay no. it looked like if we put it in the water it would go to Davey Jones's Locker. And fast.

"Can you do anything about this Mia?" Val asked surveying the wreckage of the boat.

Mia sighed deeply, "I can try. I've only ever seen Percy do it once, and that was a canoe half as big and much thinner" she said.

"Yeah, but unless you want to pay a couple hundred dollars plus to charter some boat to take us there, we're using this one?" Val said sweetly. She tapped the hull of the boat and withdrew her hand as if something had bitten her, "It's all rotten"

"I still can't see why we can't take a plane!" I complained, "I mean, there are about five billions holes in this plan!"

"Because, I'm the daughter of the Sea god, Zeus is the god of the sky… and lightning. We'd most likely get struck out of the sky by him if a child of his brother entered his domain. And kill a whole ton of people. Plus, taking a plane would be much more costly on the money that we don't have" Mia snapped, "Now, point of the 'Five Billion' holes in this plan is you don't mind" she said. She didn't sound cross as she said this but I couldn't tell.

"Okay! One, were on a beach, where plenty of people can see us looking at this shipwrecked boat. That's going to draw a little attention, don't you think? Next, we have the problem of sea worthiness! I mean, how long does this old tub look like it's going to last when we put it in the water? This ties into my first problem that and that is, the people. How are we going to get it in the water while all these people are watching?" I ranted. While I was speaking Val was counting on her fingers my reasons for disliking the plan.

"So far, that's only two" she said.

I groaned out loud and sat down in the sand.

"'I'll have this in the water in no time" Mia said though her voice only sounded halfway confident in her abilities for fixing run aground ship, "Don't worry. We'll have to do it tonight. When nobodies watching us"

"Girl, have you noticed where you're standing?" I demanded.

"In the middle New York" Mia said grudgingly.

"And do people in New York ever sleep?" Val asked catching where I was going with this.

"No" Mia said sounding very frustrated. She stopped her foot in the sand and yelled, which drew a few people's eyes from the passing crowds.

"It's not like we can charter a boat with Golden Drachma!" Val said.

"Or can we?" I asked slyly.

"Chiron!" I complained, "It's urgent! Our quest is telling us to go to Egypt and we can't without money. Would you happen to know any boatman that would take us to the continent for Golden Drachmas?" I asked pleadingly.

"You're barely been out of a camp for a few hours. See if Mia can swim you all the way across the sea" Chiron said, "There is one boat captain that can take you across I believe but he drives a hard bargain. His name is Fernando Leonardo Vague III, and he expects you to call him by his full title, no exceptions!"

"Ferdan- what?" I demanded.

Chiron sighed and said, "He lives on his boat _The Glorious Goddess_" Chiron gave of directions on how to find Mr. Vague III.

"Great!" Val said and waved her hand through the Iris massage cutting off whatever Chiron might say next.

"Don't you think he might have had anything important to say after that? Like how much it would cost!" Mia demanded of Val.

She shrugged and walked away following the directions that Chiron had given and that we all had committed to memory, just in case we got separated.

I looked at Mia, "We may as well follow here. We won't get anything done by standing around doing nothing" I said.

"No we won't" Mia said in a loud voice.

As I trotted ahead to catch up with Val, I heard Mia grumble something about thinking she was the leader of this quest.

When we reached where we were going _The Glorious Goddess _wasn't hard to find. Not that it stood out by any means. No. because it was painted a bright baby blue with pearly, almost iridescent words writing the ship's name across her prow.

_The Glorious Goddess._

The ship drew the attention of anyone who passed it and I could hear the voices of people commenting on the boat. About how seaworthy it looked, what a nice name it had, people wondering who owned it, if people could take an outing on it.

On the deck a stocky man stood with longish black hair that looked like it hadn't been cut in several weeks and tanned skin looked down at us and raised an eyebrow.

"You probably don't have the cash to charter this boat" he said in a low, slightly growl like voice.

"Are you Fernando Leonardo Vague III?" I asked.

"Yes, I am. What of it?" the man said.

"Well, we would like to charter your boat to carry us to Africa" Val said.

"Do you have the blunt? I mean the proper blunt?" Fernando Leonardo Vague III asked in a hushed tone.

Mia reached into one of her pocket and brought out a handful of golden Drachmas that she handed up to Fernando Leonardo Vague III. She smiled at her and opened his hands.

"Welcome aboard!" he cried.

Less than an hour later we were sailing out to sea. The sea wind blew in my face and New York retreated in the distance behind us.

"You know, my grandfather used to own and man this boat. So did my step father. And so do I! You see, the blood of the sea god Neptune runs in our veins on my mother's side and-" Fernando Leonardo Vague III said but Val cut him off.

"Don't you mean Poseidon?" she asked.

"No, I mean Neptune. You see, Poseidon was my dad and my step dad manned this boat for almost fifty years before he retired and handed it to me. I have input from the Roman side and Greek side at the same time!" Fernando Leonardo Vague III said with a short laugh.

Okay, I had been starting to like children of the sea god but this one was off his rocker and we were in the middle of the sea with him.

"Where are our lodgings?" Mia finally asked.

"Oh, there below. You can take your things down there if you want" the crazy captain said and motioned to the hatch that went below. I was starting to think Chiron had been right to tell us not to go on this boat.

I followed Mia and Val down into the small hallway below and immediately felt the slightest twinge on nausea. Val must've felt it to because she put one hand on her stomach and clutched it tightly. Mia, however did not seemed to be bothered by this and continued until she found a room with three small bunks in it and not a lot of floor space in it.

"I feel slightly sick" I murmured as I put my bag down on the ground.

"Because you can't see outside. It happens to most everyone except for children of Poseidon. Now, there's not much space in here is there" Mia said clapping her hands together.

"I call middle bunk" Val said and clambered into the middle bunk without a backward glance.

My nausea having somewhat subsided, I darted toward the bunks calling out as I went, "I call top"

"Oh joy" Mia muttered as she climbed into the bottom bunk.

"How long do you think this voyage will be?" I asked pulling out a golden drachma and beginning to flip it around in my fingers.

Val shrugged, "Maybe a few weeks maybe a few days" she said.

"I just hope we don't run into trouble" Mia muttered.

I flipped my head down to look at Mia trying to hide my smile.

"Mia, we're Demigods. We attract trouble" I said.

"Like magnets" Val added.

"I guess your right" Mia said.

Val began to giggle at the two of us and I found it infectious. Soon we were all laughing out and gasping for air.

"I'm not sure what's so funny" Mia finally said after getting a bit of air into her lungs. At that we all burst out laughing again which made me fall out of my bunk (For the second time today… hmm… next time I want the bottom bunk).

"We should go back up stairs and enjoy the sun" I got out before scrambling to my feet and righting my Camp Half-Blood necklace that had gotten twisted around my neck. Val brushed a strand of hair out of her face that had come loose from her ponytail.

"Yeah" I said.

I righted myself completely and helped my fellows to their feet (Even though they might not have needed it the gesture was good and it was a nice thing to do). I ran my fingers through my hair trying to smooth it.

Wait.

When I had cared too much about my hair?

"You know… we're not really the best group Chiron could have picked to do this" I said.

"Why not?" Val asked.

"Because," I said, "You're thirteen and Mia and I are both fourteen. We're not the oldest and none of us have been as camp for like five years of something"

"Who cares? I doubt the monsters do. They just want to kill us" Mia said.

"You have a point" I said.

Just then the whole boat shook.

"What chance I there that that was the wind?" Val asked in a small voice.

We didn't spare any time grabbing out weapons (Mia's sword names Tsunami, my daggers, and Val's bow and arrows). Then, making a lot of noise we ran up the stairs and onto the deck of _The Glorious Goddess. _

I paused in the hatchway blocking it for my two companions. They pushed passed me and the three of us stared up at what we saw.

"That is definitely not the wind…" Mia said faintly.

What were we looking at you might ask?

It was a giant monster.

A sea monster.

It had shining purple mottled scales and green ooze dripped from its mouth like venom. It had sharp teeth too. Very sharp teeth.

Fernando Leonardo Vague III was nowhere to be seen and I was glad he had the sense to hide from that thing. Unfortunately my companions and I were not gifted with the sense and Val was already pulling a shaft from her quiver.

Val's arrow flew with deadly accuracy at the monster and bounced off its scales.

The best thing it did was draw the creature's attention.

"Oh no!" I said as the monster reared its head, "Read me my last rites"

I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. It isn't the longest chapter in the world though. I'll try to get them longer. Leave a review please! I really appreciate the people reviewing my story.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you all who reviewed me. I really appreciate it. Once again, any suggestions on the plot would be good. Just let me know by review of PM so I can try to make it better.

Chapter Nine

Val

Once Upon a Half-Blood

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" our long drawn out scream seemed to disturb the creature's concentration and it shook its ginormous head around as if to clear it, "AAAAAAAAAH!" we screamed again once we'd run out of breath for our first scream.

We all dove in three different directions as the Sea Monster thingy bared its teeth and us spraying its acidic saliva all over _The Glorious Goddess_'s wooden plank deck. Where the stuff hit I could hear sizzling. Oh no.

I knocked another arrow to my bow and aim for the eye of the huge thing.

'_Dad, help me!_' I thought.

Then I let me arrow fly.

Whether it was Apollo guiding the shaft, pure luck, Tyche (Goddess of luck) looking down on me, my darn good aim or something else my arrow landed in one of the eyes of the creature. What I didn't count of was two things.

One was that the monster would be attracted to the person who shot him (Though, it makes sense…), and two that the monster had two eyelids! My arrow pierced the first eyelid and not the second. Oh, this was bad!

I dove out of the way as the thing bit at me. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough. The monster's teeth bit down on my leg and I was dragged backward toward the water. My world dissolved into pain except for the warm blood running down my leg.

Subconsciously a somewhat funny thought occurred to me. It was totally non relevant to my current situation but I thought to myself, 'I wonder if Camp is playing Capture the Flag right now' like I said, completely non relevant.

It wasn't burning pain though. It was normal pain. There was no acid eating at my leg then. Good. Well, bad. And good. Oh… let me just explain.

I was getting dragged backward toward the cold water. I was going to get dragged over the side! I let my bow drop my hand and unslung my quiver from over my shoulder so they wouldn't sink or weigh me down. Maybe if I survived this I could grab them again.

And I only got worse. I could hear Jade and Mia's helpless shouts turn into shouts of terror and I heard something else come out of the water. There was a swooshing sound as something else big came up above the surface.

I moved just enough to see another purple head rising from the water. NO! This couldn't be! What was a Hydra doing here?

Oh Gods of Olympus preserve us.

I know that Hydras were technically considered sea monsters but Percy had told me once that he, Tyson and Annabeth had run into one while they were on their quest to save Thalia's Pine and get the Golden Fleece. They hadn't run into it at sea either.

So what was one doing here attacking us?

But I had much more important things to worry about right now. I felt a wet, slick hand grasp mine but then our hands were yanked apart. I felt, rather than heard, a sword slash across the head that held me neck and then the heat of a fire burnt the stump of the head.

But my leg had managed to get tangled in some rope that was somehow attached to the body.

I was half passed out but as I kept sliding I could almost sense the water getting closer.

And then the cold water covered my head. It knocked the wind out of me in a strange, bizarre way and then I was drowning. As the stump of the neck dragged me down, down, down, more things went passed me in the water.

I tried to count.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

Seven other heads.

One was already up there and I was getting dragged down by another so that made all nine heads. Hopefully none of them breathed fire.

Everything around me, all the pain, everything winked out right at that moment.

"_Oh, get up. I'm getting tired of waiting_" a voice was saying to me. But it wasn't female.

"_Wha-?_" I murmured sleepily.

I tried to open my eyes, to my surprise I succeeded.

A man with perfect blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin was standing before me. He wasn't glowing but light seemed to emanate from behind him. I can't really describe it. it was so… strange. He leaned on a red sports car easily.

"_Dad?_" I asked.

"_Yep! Apollo, god of the sun, medicine and a few other things I don't want to spend the time we have listing at your service. I am also your father._" The man said. I'd only met my dad once on Olympus after the battle against the titans. Then, I had been so tired from healing along Alexis, Brigit and Will and a few other Apollo campers that all of us had passed out on the floor and let some other people tend to our wounds.

"_What are you doing erm… in my head?_" I asked.

"_It's really a long story so let me explain a little_" Apollo said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, "_For one Val, you can't tell anyone that I was here. Well, in your head talking to you. Zeus would try to kill me. Or have Ares do it. The War god had been looking for a way to kill me for a long time. Or temporarily disable me. Anyway, tell no one of this meeting is that clear?_" Apollo didn't wait for my response but instead forged on with his tale, "_After Percy Jackson disappeared Zeus chose to cut off Olympus. However, Hera saw fit to do some meddling in the affairs on Demigods and Mortals and got herself captured and her energy drained out of her. That's where the Demigods come in. Three of them rescued Hera and she returned to Olympus. Now, I've been keeping an eye on Brigit, Alexis and you to make sure you guys don't get hurt. That would be bad for a lot of people on a number of levels_" Apollo didn't let me ask questions he just kept talking over me, "_When I realized that you were in trouble I decided to come and talk to you about something important and to help you survive"_

"_What do you need to talk to me about?_" I finally got in and asked.

"_Just a few sentences. Gaea is rising. The Doors of Death are open. Monsters are coming back from Tarturus. Heroes are too" _Apollo said.

"_But what does that mean?_" I demanded.

The image began to fade until nothing was left of the surroundings.

"_Oh, it means you're probably going to die and the world will cease to exist as you know it_" Apollo said cheerily.

"_Nice dad_" I muttered, "_Real nice_"

"_Oh, yes. One more thing. When you get back to camp, that ship should be ready. Get Brigit and Alexis to stow away with you. And, tell Jason Grace exactly this; The Bay Area! Tata!_" Apollo said. Since when did my dad say 'Tata'?

Maybe he was over his Haiku phase.

I decided I would humor him.

I also decided I hated ships.

When I awoke I heard song singing and someone tending to my leg with some difficulty. I recognized the song as a hymn to Apollo that was sometimes sung around camp. The singing paused and I heard a voice (This time female), said:

"Mia, the Nectar please"

It was Jade.

I groggily opened one eye and looked up at the back of Jade's head.

"What happened?" I asked.

I tried to sit up but another set of hands landed on my shoulders and pushed me back down. I blinked several times and focused on Mia finally. Mia had skinned both her knees and had acquired a cut across her cheek but other than that she looked okay.

Once I got a good look at Jade though I let out an audible groan.

Her arms and legs were covered in black and blue bruises and her nose didn't look quite right. A good four inches of hair had been clipped off in three different places. Jade also winced as she moved her left shoulder about.

"What's wrong with your shoulder Jade?" I asked.

"Nothing" she murmured intent on her work of trying to dress my wound.

I found it strangely hilarious that I was the child of Apollo, the god of medicine on this trip and my wounds were getting healed by the daughter of Hermes. Who was not the god of medicine. I began to chuckle softly.

"Hold still" Mia said offering her fingers to me, "And you might want to squeeze my fingers"

I grabbed Mia's fingers and began to squeeze even before the Nectar touched my wound.

Then, Jade began to pour a bit of our nectar on the wound to clean it out.

"Ow ow ow!" I said as the stuff spilled into my cut.

For the first time I chose to look around. We were still of _The Glorious Goddess_ which had taken a beating from the battle the captain was nowhere to be seen and I found myself almost hoping that he had been eaten by the Hydra.

"What was a Hydra doing here?" I finally asked.

Jade had moved on to wrapping my leg in a strip on fabric from a curtain.

"I don't know" she murmured.

Once Jade was done I was allowed to stand up and move about to test my weight on my leg.

"What exactly happened?" I finally asked.

"Jade and I set to work beheading and burning the stumps of the necks of that beast. Then I dove in after you and pulled you out of the water hoping that you hadn't drowned and here you are. I think the captain dove into the water or got eaten" Mia explained.

"Good riddance!" I said and clapped my hand over my mouth realizing what I'd just said.

Mia cracked up.

"We should all go below and get some good rest" I finally said.

We all got up and began to walk toward the stairs that led below decks. We were almost there when, from behind me, I heard Jade let out an audible groan. I whirled around just in time to see her collapse on the deck.

"Jade!" Mia and I said together and sprinted back toward her. Well, Mia sprinted, I half limped half hopped along dragging my injured leg behind me.

I dropped to my knees beside Jade and put two fingers on her neck to check her pulse which was going. That was a good sign. I remember seeing Jade wince when she moved her shoulder so I rolled up her sleeve until I could see fully.

I heard Mia gasp.

All along Jade's shoulder there was bit marks. The skin around the wound had a slight greenish tinged look to it and most of the bites went to the bone.

I looked up at Mia.

"Ambrosia and Nectar now with some fresh water!" I ordered and Mia followed. She scrambled to her feet and ran to where she'd dropped the backpack that contained the stuff I had called for. She began to rummage through it.

"Did the Hydra strike her shoulder?" I asked as sat helplessly waiting for Mia to get the supplies.

"Yeah, but it missed her. At least, it looked like it missed her" Mia come coming back over with the stuff I had requested. I began to work singing and praying to my dad to help me. I cleaned the wound out with Nectar and the fresh water, then I sat Jade upright.

I worked on binding the wound after that with some draperies out of Fernando's quarters.

Finally I sat back on my heels.

The Ambrosia sat untouched by my feet and Mia motioned at it.

"We can't do anything more until she waked up" I said and offered my hand up to Mia. She took it and helped me to my feet.

I ran my fingers through my hair several times and then looked in the surrounding water to make sure that nothing was sneaking up on us. After that, Mia and I, with some difficulty several red hot pained moments, and a bit of head bonking got Jade down and put her on the bottom bunk.

That was partly because we didn't have the strength to lift her onto the top bunk which she had claimed for her own and health (When she woke up she might fall out of bed again). So, we decided that she should go on the bottom bunk.

Mia and I walked back up the stairs and onto the deck where I immediately set to work walking around the boat and making sure there were no monsters in the water.

"Val, are you okay?" Mia had managed to sneak up behind me. How did she manage to be that sneaky?

"Oh, uh, yeah. I was just thinking…" I let my voice trail off into oblivion.

"About what?" Mia prompted.

"About what happened to me a while ago and everything since then" Mia put her hands on my shoulder and steered me to the steps that went up into the Captain's Cabin. Then, she sat me down and nodded for me to continue.

"Camp Half-Blood, Demigods, monsters. These are all things I never would have though existed! But they do, and somehow we're tied into something big. Bigger than the giant war. Mia, when I was drowning my dad appeared to me"

Mia's eyes widened, "Your dad? But Olympus had been closed off for months!"

"I know" I said, "But my dad said to me this; Gaea is rising. The Doors of Death are open. Monsters are coming back from Tarturus. Heroes are too"

"Gaea is rising. The Doors of Death are open. Monsters are coming back from Tarturus. Heroes are too…" Mia mulled the words over in her mouth then said, "That wasn't all you were thinking about was it?" I shook my head, "You can tell me you know" Mia said.

"Yeah… I know" I said.

"Go ahead" Mia said to me.

Just then there was a soft whisper from the doorway that led down the stairs. Jade was leaning against it. "Do we have any food?" she said softly.

I smiled and got up before bowing down and saying, "Of course there is food"

It took us a while to find the Galley (What the people on ships call the Kitchen) but after a while we managed to find it and some food to whip up. The old sea captain sure had been a hearty eater so there was no shortage of food.

As I chowed down on some food I looked at Jade and studied her carefully. She winced if she moved too much and she looked rather pale however, for someone who had passed out she looked like she wasn't dying.

"How about a game of Truth or Dare" Mia said through a mouthful.

"Truth or Dare?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah, we don't really know each other that well so I think a good game of Truth or Dare would give us the chance to get to know each other a little better. You know, so we can work better together and thank kind of stuff in battle" Mia explained.

"Okay…" Jade said.

"Fine" I said, "But we play it above decks. I hate being down here. It makes me feel enclosed" I wasn't claustrophobic, however, the constant rocking of the ship made me feel the slightest bit queasy and I wanted to be outside in the open air again.

After we finished dinner we climbed back up the stairs onto the main deck.

"I'll go first" I said quickly. I didn't want to get asked any prodding questions so I volunteered. I also hoped that whoever I asked would ask the other not me.

"Okay" the other two agreed.

"Mia, Truth or Dare" I asked.

"Dare" Mia said.

"I dare you to run around the deck screaming 'I love Justin Beiber'" I said.

Mia only looked a little bit mortified. She got to her feet and began to sprint around the deck, as she ran she half-screamed half-sang, "I LOVE JUSTIN BEIBER" in a really of key note that set my teeth on edge. She was doing it on purpose!

She sat back down and brushed her hair out of her face before saying, "Val, Truth or Dare"

"Truth" I finally said.

"What happened to you before you came to camp?" Mia finally asked.

I gulped.

"Well," I said, "How long before camp?"

"Since as far back as you can remember" Jade said taking ahold of Mia's dare.

"Well, my mom never really liked me that much. My grandparents disowned my mom because of me. After that… we just grew apart. I've always been a bit of a loner. Every school I went to, not only did something bad happen to it, I would never have any friends. The closest I ever got to a friend was a girl named Alexandra who died in an explosion. I guess, after I'd been at camp for a while I began to open up to the people…" I finally said.

"Oh" Mia and Jade said together.

"Don't worry about it" I said, "What happened, happened and now I'm a Demigod, daughter of Apollo, on a quest… to find something that we have no idea whatsoever what it is" I tried to put a little cheer in my voice but it sounded waaaaaay to downcast for a child of Apollo.

"Cheer up! I bet in a few weeks we'll be where we need to be" Jade said, "If more sea monsters don't try to kill us"


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson. All I own is Skylar and Brigit and a few other side characters. That you to all who reviewed me I like that you do that. I find it nice. Sorry for such a short chapter after a long time not updating.**

Chapter ten

Brigit

The Monster Press

I thought that our quest was going well until the snake woman attacked.

Their proper names were Gorgons; however, I thought that they should be called snake women, even though that is the given name for _Dracaena. _

Urial and Stheno.

They were supposedly sisters of Medusa, but I'd never met any of the Gorgons. I had read (In ancient Greek obviously) that only Medusa could turn people to stone with only a look and her two sisters could not, but I didn't want to take chances.

We were standing on Fifth Avenue. The Empire State building was rising up into the sky but I had never felt further away from the Gods in my entire life. Argus had dropped us off at the corner of Central park and we had been walking along ever since.

"So, this seems to be an awfully quiet quest" Maria said. She had her hands in her pockets and was looking down mournfully at the sidewalk.

"Yep" Charlotte replied.

I stayed silent.

As we walked I reached up and took ahold of my bead necklace, fingering all the beads. Looking up at the Empire State Building, my hand seemed to find the bead from last summer, of that building.

Made by the Hephaestus kids the beads was impossibly intricate. It grasped every detail of the building. But more amazing was hat all the names of the Demigods that had been killed were engraved on the bead's surface.

I lifted the necklace off my neck and examined where the names of three people were engraved. Silena Beauregard, Michel Yew, and Charles Beckandorf. Beckandorf hadn't died in the battle for Olympus but he'd died of the Titan's cruise ship the Princess Andromeda. In my opinion, he was one of the one's ho saved Olympus.

I put the necklace back over my head.

Michel Yew had been my counselor. And he'd died defending the Brooklyn Bridge. After we'd blown the bridge up, I had tried to heal the people with minor wounds. However, light was sunburns were my specialty. Not healing. We'd never found Michel.

"Ahem!" Charlotte cleared her throat loudly to get my attention.

"Brigit!" Maria said, "I asked you a question?"

"Hmm?" I responded.

"What happens now?" Maria asked.

"One of two things" I said bluntly, "One, monsters find us and kill us. Two, monsters find us and don't kill us"

Charlotte and Maria cracked up.

After they'd both regain their breath Charlotte asked, "Is there an option three?"

"Night strikes dark,

Pure and black,

Only the song of the lark,

Can free the light,

In late July,

As the flowers bloom,

One shall die,

And not be entitled to everlasting doom,

And the search shall end,

For the Enchanted Heirloom"

I recited the prophecy to my friends.

"It doesn't tell us where to go" I concluded.

"Yeah" Maria said.

Charlotte was now looking at the ground with Maria as we walked and I continued to do the same.

Finally, after six more blocks we turned does another street. I missed the street name.

We continued to walk in silence and I watched the time (By watching the sun) trickle by. I found myself singing a blessing to Apollo from one of my many songs I knew under my breath.

We made countless turns.

Finally, after a long, long, long time of walking I caught sight of a sign that indicated Walmart.

"Let's stop there" I said, pointing at the Walmart sign.

"Do you think there's a Starbucks nearby?" Maria asked, "I think I want some coffee.

Charlotte and I laughed and kept walking.

"What?" Maria demanded.

I found it hard to believe that she was older than me by one year. She acted the same age as me or younger at times. I also found it hard to believe that she wasn't the daughter of Ares. I made a mental note to ask her if she had heritage from that god.

"M'kay. I said, "Let's stop there and get some food. You know, despite when all our siblings did, we still don't have a lot of food with us. Lots of mortal money. No food"

Maria and Charlotte laughed and we walked toward Walmart (As indicated by the signs along the way)

Once we got there, we figured that this Walmart was a particularly bog Walmart and it took us forever to find anything. In fact, we had to stop at the services counter to ask for help.

When we did a woman walked over to us. She wore a long flowery dress that covered her feet, a blue Walmart apron (Walmart logo and all), and a flowered bandana over very lumpy looking frizzy brownish red hair. Her name tag said (what I could glean from it with my Dyslexia):

_Hello! My name is Beeno _

"Um… Ms. Beeno" I said, "Can you help us find the food area?"

Ms. Beeno smiled, "Yes my dears. My sister Urial and I can help you"

Another woman dressed similarly came over and smiled at us.

"Hello Brigit, Maria and Charlotte" she said though none of us had introduced ourselves, "My name is Urial"

The name faintly rang a bell in the back of my mind but I couldn't place it.

"Right this way" they said together and led us through the constant twisting masses of people to the food section.

When we arrived the people seemed to thin out around us until there was almost no one in the area. Then it was an empty area and I began to feel worried. I looked at the shelves and examined the food there. When Maria, Charlotte and I turned our backs on the two assistants they grabbed us from behind.

I aimed a kick at the leg of Urial but she held on tightly.

Oh! That's why Urial's name sounded familiar. She was one of the Gorgons!

"Demigods, we know who you are! And, we know what you're looking for. We demanded that you lead us to the Ring of Gyges!" Urial said.

"And, it's Stheno" Ms. Beeno snapped.

Oh.

Oops.

"Um…" I thought fast. I couldn't see any escape.

"Well" Maria said, "Here's the thing ladies. We don't know where the Ring of Gyges is. It is just a mystery to us"

"Like we believe that" Urial said.

"Right! We would never fall for that old trick" Stheno said happily.

Okay. A happy Gorgon. Now I had seen it all.

Suddenly, an idea came to me.

"We really don't know where it is!" I said, "And I think you're mistaken that we're looking for it. You see, we're here to interview monsters and get their ideas about other monsters and Gaia's plan. Also, some backstory. We call it the Monster Press and the first issue will be released soon. After we interview you"

"What?" Stheno said, "Urial! Please can we be interviewed!"

"Only the most powerful monsters!" Charlotte said catching on, "Like Kempě and Medusa and… the Hyperborean Giants!"

"Tempting right?" Maria asked.

"True. True" Urial said, "But where is your notebook?"

"We accidentally left it at camp and we came here to get some juice and a new one notebook and pencil"

"Oh, very well! We'll let you do this interview! But no funny business!" Urial said, "And we follow you everywhere to make sure you don't escape"

"Okay" I said.

I turned and walked toward where I'd seen the note books and pencils. As I walked Charlotte caught up with me.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Saving your skin Charlotte. Now help me"

Maria joined us on my other side and hissed, "Well, this should be interesting"

"Yeah. Interesting is the word" Charlotte murmured.

When we got to the sections with notebooks I took the longest time picking one out, hoping to bore Stheno and Urial. It didn't work and finally I was forced to pick one out. I took an equally long time with the pencils until I had to choose the six pack of pencils and we were pushed in the direction of the check out.

After we'd checked out Stheno and Urial pushed us into a corner where we were forced to stand very still.

"Um… let's begin" I said, "Which of the three of you is the ugliest?"

Urial piped up, "Mother said _Medusa_ was the ugliest one always. Because she could turn people to stone with one look! And we never got the recognition"

"Yes. Urial is right!" Stheno said, "Medusa gets _all_ the screen time"

"So you're in agreement that Medusa is very self-satisfied?" I asked.

I was writing my plan down instead of their answers and Maria and Charlotte where reading what I wrote.

"Absolutely!" they said together.

"Well," I said, accidently writing one of my plan phrases in ancient Greek. Okay. Medusa was the one who got cursed, why did you have to suffer as a monster for all eternity with her?"

"Suffer?" Stheno said.

"Cursed?" Urial demanded.

"Uh. Yeah"

"Oh, Brigit, it isn't a curse. We like being Gorgons. Being a monster does have its advantages" Urial explained it like she was talking to an idiot. Nice and slowly which is what I needed. I scribbled down the rest of my plan and really hoped my friends could read what I'd written.

"I'll write a bit Brigit" Charlotte suggested then took the notepad from me.

I watched as she wrote under my plan, _Understood. When you say "Now"_

"So" my only hope was to keep the quite unintelligent Gorgons talking, "You enjoy being Gorgons?"

"Yes. We do! We have pledged ourselves to Gaia and when she awakes we will be rewarded. The Doors of Death are open and all kinds of monsters are coming out. Plus, if, Demigod, you kill us, we'll just come back through the Doors of Death and reform!" Stheno said.

"Interesting. Can you tell me what is it like to be a servant of Gaia?" I asked.

"Yes! Of course!" Stheno said just as Urial snapped,

"NO!"

"I'm feeling some sibling rivalry" I said.

"Yes! If Stheno would stop giving away what we were doing for Gaia we would be higher in her power!" Urial said.

"And if Urial wasn't so caught up with everything else in the world like being very owerful we'd be better off!" Stheno complained.

"It was your idea to join Gaia!" Urial said.

"Was not Urial! It was yours" Stheno whined.

"NOW!" I shouted.

"Oh rea-!"

The good news: Urial froze solid in the middle of what she was saying.

The bad news: Charlotte collapsed on the ground from the effort of freezing her.

The other bad news: Stehno began to scream bloody murder.

And the final bad news: all of the lights in the Walmart suddenly went out.

**I hoped you liked the chapter. Once again, sorry it's so short; I've had a lot of things on my mind lately. But, at least we got back to Brigit and found out a little bit of what's going on with them. I was honestly wondering what was going to happen to them for a while so it took me a while to develop what was going to happen in this particular chapter. But I hoped you liked it anyway!**

**:)**


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